Simone's a Cow Girl Now...

Heading into Unmarked Territory!

2009-06-18T07:16:00.010+10:00

Okay so perhaps not unmarked territory but definitely into a place which is a sore spot amoung Canadians - we went to the USA! Yep, we hit up MONTANA!

Dylan has Wednesday's off thanks to having his hours cut due to "the recession" so we decided to do a day trip to Montana seeing as though it is only a few hours away.

We get a car for the day - this time one which doesn't have a punctured tire - and set off bright and early to make our way across the Canadian border and into the U

.S of A! We get to the border, flash our passports, get fingerprinted (American security measures suck) and then wait for half an hour while they check our passports and finally stamp them so we can get through to Montana.

Immediately, there is a different feel in the air. The praries look different.. the sun hits us in a unusual light, we feel... Americanized. I feel like shouting "Hey Ya'll" out the car window and Dylan may or may not have felt like screaming "yeehaw" which unfortunately he forgot to do - ah well, next time!

Our first stop is of course a bathroom stop and food! We wanted American grub and we wanted it now! Stopping off in some hick town with loads of Natives we manage to find a bathroom for me and a diner which served cheeseburgers (NO substitutes) which consisted of two slabs of greasy meat and something that resembled cheese but wasn't quite the cheese we're used to and a side of fries... greasy but it sure hit the spot.

We keep driving to Glacier National Park and one word... WOW! We went to St Mary's and saw this absolutely stunning lake for which the picture does not do justice...

We drive around and are impressed by the beauty that is Montana when Dylan says... "I think we should stay the night." I agreed so we went in search of a place to stay... we drove to these dodgy looking campground/cabin site which had an old guy standing around - it looked like a scene from a horror movie. Woods. Old guy. Axe... okay maybe I made up the axe part but it looked kind of scary so I said a hell no to that place. We drove around a little more and found a place just before the entrance to Glacier National Park which was.... doable... and decided to go grab some dinner before going back to the hotel... went to an awesome restaurant where I ordered the pulled pork BBQ burger, which is basically pork which has been pulled apart and marinated in BBQ sauce - yummy - and the owner of the restaurant told us about these cute little log cabins and was so friendly we couldn't resist when he told us to go and check the cabins out... so off we go... back to the same place where the axe murder lived.. and it turns out the log cabins were gorgeous AND they were the same price as the 'doable' hotel! So we grabbed the lucky last cabin (luck seems to follow the both of us) and settled in for the night.

We wake up bright and not-so-early the next morning. Dylan is feeling less stressed after having lied to work that his buddies car broke down in Edmonton and we set off for the day... only to discover our $25 seven day Glacier National Park pass has gone M.I.A! Oh no! We go down anyway, bypassing my need for breakfast and juice (again, never listen to Dylan!) and go straight to the park where we get let in for free because the same lady as yesterday was working... but we couldn't get out! And there are no drinks or food in the park because of BEARS! So, we leave the park and get food and juice and explore other areas...

Now, you have to know the entire time we were driving through the park I was looking for bears and kept yelling at Dylan to SLOW DOWN because we might miss a bear if you drive too fast! So, at this point I'd stopped actively looking for bears... and Dylan stops the car. Says "Oh. My. Gosh." - I look up and see a HUGE grizzly bear crossing the road with four baby cubs trailing behind! It was the most amazing thing ever but it happened so quick we didn't have a chance to grab our cameras but in our hearts and burned into our memories will be the USA Grizzlies!

We also saw a real live moose the day before and driving home we saw a coyote so I've now seen quite a few Canadian animals so I was pretty stoked.

Since we lost our park pass, we decided that we'd drive out of Glacier and back through the Canadian border - which they didn't even check our car for booze so we could have brought back tons dammit - bought a soda on Canadian soil and found $50 which the cashier promptly said in her old lady voice "Oh I'll return that to its owner" and which Dylan quickly said, after glancing in his wallet "Oh, actually that's mine" and $50 made its way into our pockets. Sweet.

In typical Simone and Dylan style we had some random adventures. Driving down the highway we come across two little dogs - a small black one and a small white one... come to think of it, Michael Jackson was playing on the radio too... and I made Dylan pull over so we could rescue the cute little rascals because I was scared they'd otherwise get run over. The white one was quite happy to be caught and came easily. The black dog, not so much. We chased it - on foot and by car. Gave up after it ran through a field to a house - so we deliver the white dog there too and hope for the best.

On the way to visit Dylan's best buddy in Fernie, we drove through what used to be a town but is now called Frank's Slide - the wall of the mountain collapsed and buried the whole town and now the mountain face looks like a slide! Pretty amazing and so sad.

Made it to Fernie and had some pretty amazing curry at a curry house in Fernie and did not tip the stupid Aussie server because she was too lazy and refused to walk upstairs to bring us our bill. No tip from me and Dylan copped a pretty nasty look when I went to the bathroom. Do your job woman and we'll tip you next time.

As I drove back from Fernie, Dylan told me to watch out for deer as dusk is prime deer time and ... "riding along in my automobile", Dylan grabbed my shoulder and shouted "stop" - and thank gosh because a deer bounded right in front of the car and I definitely tested out the car breaks only to discover they work quite well! Phew. No, we didn't hit the deer and we ended up eating a vegetarian meal for dinner that night, damn. I was a little shaky but was okay to drive home!

Pretty amazing trip - two Canadian provinces and the USA all in 2 days! We are thinking of heading back to Montana to do some camping but we'll see how we go for time. Should be amazing if we do though, there are some gorgeous spots to camp!

That's all for now folks... Be prepared for another update next week after our camping trip in Jasper!

Dinosaurs in Drumheller

2009-06-18T06:46:00.004+10:00

This is going back a few weekends but I figure I ought to update as I've actually been doing some fun stuff lately thanks to meeting fellow Aussie Dylan and his cheap as car rentals...

A few weekends ago we were meant to go camping but due to shitty weather we decided to stay in town... however, we still had a car. We decided to go to a place just out of Calgary called Drumheller. Dylan calls a buddy of his to see how to get to this place... and... after driving 100km MORE than we needed to on the highway (because Dylan kept telling me we hadn't passed the place his friend told him to turn at yet even though on the map I could see we were a zillion miles away from where we were supposed to be...) we head back the way we came...

Finally on the right track and we stop in this town so I can use the bathroom... and we discover one of our back tires is flat... so, we try to find gas in this tiny little hick town on the praries... Reckon any service station has frickin' air? Of course not... We buy magic foam to put that in the tire to get us through but then Dylan decides to change the tire.

I go back and get a refund for the magic foam... Dylan decides he can't be bothered changing the tire... He re-buys the magic foam (I refused because I just got the money back, haha).... So tire is magic foamed, it has been hours since we set off on our adventure, a small detour of 200km later and we're back on our way... only to discover the tire was flat again, which is when we discovered it had a puncture! Oh great! All good, it's not that bad *yet* so we keep driving until we finally reach Drumheller.

Anyways, to sum up Drumheller, apparently was home to the dinosaur many, many moons ago - hence all the cheap and tacky touristy dinosaur figures that litter the streets. It is also home to the World's Largest Dinosaur which you can also climb up the 106 stairs to the top of and stand in the dinosaurs mouth...

After surviving our wacky tourist attack, we decided we were in need of a beer before setting off on a Dinosaur Trail... a 48km round trip of the surrounding area of Drumheller to see the valley... kind of a cool bar so I've chucked in a photo too.
Anyway, with our punctured tire, we set off on the road again and attempted to drive this somewhat spectacular Dinosaur Trail, only to discover that we had gotten lost and had ended up on the wrong highway hence why we did not see much of the spectacular drive that Canada's Lonely Planet guide book was raving about... so, defeated we start the drive back to Drumheller city centre (and on the way see the actual sign for the Dinosaur Trail which we missed about 30kms back) and decided instead to go in search of this saloon which Dylan was adamant he wanted to go to... seriously, if this man can learn anything from me it definitely must be listen to my bloody directions because you are going the wrong way!

Yes, again we managed to get side-tracked and ended up passing the sign to the saloon (after following directions from a dodgy servo dude (that's cashier at a service station to all you non-abbreviating non-Aussies out there) who told us to go over the 11 bridges of Wayne... so we drive... and drive... and pass some Hoodoos which are kind of cool - and see an old coal mine... before turning back and getting on the road which I told Dylan before was probably the road we needed to have taken... however, I pretend I'm annoyed but in reality if we hadn't gotten side-tracked then we would never have seen the old coal mine or the Hoodoos so the detour was actually interesting!

Hoodoos - Sounds kind of creepy but basically what they are is mushroom shaped rocks which are formed by the layers of soft rock which are protected by sheets of hard rock on top. The softer rock erodes pretty quickly but the hard layer of rock on top protects the stone underneath it from eroding so quickly so the layers without harder rock on top erode, leaving the hard rock as a barrier which means these mushroom shaped Hoodoos are formed. Hopefully you get what I'm saying with that but you can check out the Drumheller website for more info if you so desire!
So cutting this post short, we pump up the tire yet again 'cause we're still too lazy to change it and manage to witness a pretty decent sunset at Horseshoe Canyon and head home to call it a night!

Trek Through the Banff Wilderness

2009-06-05T03:21:00.009+10:00

My weekend was spent camping out in Banff National Park. My buddy, Dylan, chose our camping ground which was at a place called Two Jack Lake. I stipulated that showers and toilets were a must, even though I could have gone without them I decided I didn't want to.

Our campground was amazing. We had the lake right beside us and it was just full of lush, green trees. I talk a lot but I have to say, seeing this lake I was absolutely breathless. The photos are gorgeous but still don't do it the justice it deserves.

We set up our tent, well, actually Dylan tried setting up the tent and I wandered off to find a washroom and came back 10 minutes later to find him still struggling with the tent... so, I check it out and have the tent set up in about 30 seconds flat.

Dylan was a little peeved that I managed to figure out the tent so fast and he kept asking if I was really sure the tent was supposed to be set up the way I had set it up - mind you, his way of setting up the tent kind of involved stretching the tent into odd shapes which were really obviously wrong and my way was pretty simple. I was pleased with myself ;)

We ended up doing that trail, Johnston Canyon, which I was excited about doing last time I went to Banff but Kylie whinged about breaking her ankle over.... It was really pretty. We walked along and saw these gushing waterfalls and we could go into this tiny cave which led directly in front of the waterfall and we could feel the spray of the water. It was nice but so cold!

We were then going to drive up to Lake Louise to take a photo cos the ice had since melted on the lake but decided to go to Banff and get our supplies - which pretty much consisted sausages, ingredients for s'mores and booze.

It was a good thing we continued to drive because we saw more elk (we'd already seen them earlier in the day and I may or may not have turned into a rambling mess of excitement that couldn't sit still). At one stage, we saw our second herd of elk when driving past in our vehicle. They were on the opposite side of the road, so pulled over (probably not in the safest way, I was too excited).. jumped out of the car and slowly ran over to take a photo... I promptly got scared after I asked Dylan if it was safe and he advised me not to get too close to the elk... so, I ran back to the car, jumped in, reversed, changed direction and took photos of the elk out of the car window - we had to keep accelerating because the elk kept walking and munching on leaves so we had follow them so I could get the perfect shot!

We also saw big horned sheep

and a chipmunk (on our walk of Johnston Canyon) so I was feeling pretty excited about all the wilderness at this stage!

As we kept driving we ended up upon this trail. I like to drive, randomly, and I find that these are the times you find really cool things... which we did. We jumped out of the car and saw this trail - Upper Bankhead it was called. It was getting late but we still had a fair bit of time before it got dark so Dylan and I started this trail. It was 4.2kms each way so we knew we weren't going to do the entire thing but figured we'd check it out and if it was nice we'd go back the following day. It was more like a real trail, meaning it wasn't paved like Johnston Canyon, which was more what we were after. So, we walked up a bit and Dylan freaked me out by telling me that we were probably within 500m of a bear.. so, of course, after that I kept "hearing" bears. As we kept walking on the trail, it got narrower and the trees began to close in a little more and we heard a coyote... which promptly freaked me out even more and we decided (okay, I decided) it was time to go back... well, it was starting to get darker and Dylan also told me that this was the time when bears were feeding - awesome! I wanted to see a bear, not get eaten by one!

We were just about out of the trail and could pretty much see the parking lot from where we were standing... and all of a sudden we heard the trees rustle (Dylan later told me he thought it was a bear) and out pops this white tailed deer... it runs right in front of us and leaps over a fallen tree branch which must have been over 2 meters high and bounds off into the forest. It was amazing. Again, I was speechless. I looked over at Dylan and asked him in absolute awe "did you see that?" and he was also a little speechless and said "yep"... It was the most amazing thing on our trip. The photo below shows me standing in front of the spot where the deer bounded over...

Because it happened so fast there was no way we could have gotten a photo. So, we headed back to our campsite, we walked around the lake and discovered that the lake water was literally crystal clear and we brought plastic cups along our walk and we drank the lake water... it was some of the best water I've had. So clear and fresh. We even saw fish jumping out of the lake and could hear their plop as they landed back in the water.

Headed back to the campfire, stuck our sausages on a metal skewer we bought from Safeway and then after cooking and splitting one open, we realised the Canadian fire pits are pretty awesome and have a little side thing for actually BBQing things so we quickly put the other sausages on to BBQ instead of holding them on these dodgy little skewers, burning our fingers. We cooked up some s'mores (Dylan was impressed, he'd never had them before) and drank our vodka with sourpuss and apple juice (my creation, which he was also impressed with).

(Dylan set the timer on the camera and the flash went off as I had a big

gob of sausage in my mouth! Attractive!)

On Sunday morning, I woke up with massive cramps and was in so much pain I cried... so we had to cut our trip short and ended up getting home at 9am which I was so sad about because there was so much else to do out there but we agreed to go camping this weekend and we were going to go back to the same place but then Dylan suggested we go to Fernie, B.C which to me, sounds amazing. There are SO many camping spots out there that it makes me not want to go back home because they are all just so amazing. Next time I am hoping to see a bear and a moose (hopefully from the safe confines of our car rather than on a trail) but I am pretty pumped. Dylan actually said I am lucky with spotting wildlife, he said he'd never seen as many animals as he had out with me - even in Calgary, we spotted baby squirrels yesterday and baby Canadian Geese so a bear we shall definitely see! Love camping and had a blast on our trip even if it was short lived.

Moose and Baby Geese and Bears... Oh My!

2009-05-27T02:58:00.005+10:00

Working 12 hour shifts are never much fun and I have vowed that I never want to do this again, however, on a positive - my Canadian credit card has been paid off!

I have 7 weeks remaining in Calgary and am planning to make the most of it (as best I can with limited funds) and this weekend I am heading up to the mountains to do some camping. I stipulated that in order to go camping, there must be toilet and shower facilities around as I do not feel like starting my first (and quite possibly last) Canadian camping experience smelling like a feral.

Our plans so far include Johnston Canyon which last time I was in Banff I missed out on due to cries of 'oh but it's too icy' and 'oh but if I go I might break an ankle' - right, next time don't come to Banff if you just want to sit in the car and complain the entire time. The Rockies are home to many of the most beautiful hikes in the world and I plan on enjoying them whilst I am here!

We also are going to attempt 'a little bit of paddling' - aka - canoeing! This I have not done in a very long time so I am a little concerned I may end up drenched in icy cold water and I have images of my friend whipping out the camera and him laughing hysterically whilst I am floundering around the bottom of some lake being attacked by underwater grizzly bears.
Funnily enough, I was reading up on the Banff National Park website and there are quite a few mentions of bears and how to protect yourself against them by:

not leaving food around your campsite;
traveling in groups of 4+ on certain hikes that are in bear territory;
carrying bear spray.

I am excited to see a bear and am going to demand my National Park entrance fee back if I do not see a bear (and also a moose, and perhaps an elk) whilst camping. That being said, if a bear comes to the edge of my tent and pokes its snout in, I may just well have a heart attack and keel over so I guess I should be careful of what I wish for.

Nevertheless, I am beyond excited for this upcoming weekend and should post a few pics up when I get back as I've been a little slack

in doing that for this site seeing as all my photos are posted on the social site known to all as Facebook!

Oh and one random other thing I feel like sharing

- a few days ago I went for a walk along the Bow River and

it was beautiful and sunny.. actually, I rollerbladed... and saw some baby geese. They were so cute and fluffy but of course, no camera, so I am going to go back tonight and hope some of these little baby geese are till there! Super cute!

Fail Blog

2009-05-21T07:35:00.002+10:00

There is this hilarious website which Steph, a girl I work with, introduced me to - here are some hilarious pictures which are on the website and for more laughs you can check out Fail Blog for more laughs.

see more Fail Blog

see more Fail Blog

see more Fail Blog

see more Fail Blog

see more Fail Blog

There are loads more hilarious ones on the site but I don't want to post too many of them here. This is what I do at work when I don't have much work to do. $15 an hour to do this. Pretty sweet.

Gripe & Moan

2009-05-19T07:35:00.003+10:00

To all those out there who actually read this thing - an update at long last.

To sum up everything in Calgary - not a whole bunch has been going on. I went to Banff with my room mate and another couple of friends for a weekend which proceeded to be the biggest let-down because they complained about it being too icy and cold to do any form of hike which was pretty much the entire point of why I wanted to go - so wasted my money there even though Banff and Lake Louise itself are quite beautiful. I will try to go back before I come home...

...Yes! Home. July I will be gracing the good earth of Australia with my presence. Would like to stay in Canada longer, however, figure money kind of might be more useful than living in a country that makes it hard for me to teach, thus, not enabling me to earn good coin.

Got told a few home truths recently which were not much fun so even more 'personal growth' to work on which I am pretty sure money and a car would definitely help solve (money would help the lack of being able to do fun things ANYWHERE and car would help because it is a convenience).

Feeling pretty damn grumpy working 12 hour days - 7 days a week, which my friends do NOT understand at all as per shown by sending me texts asking if I want to hang out and getting pissy when I keep saying 'no, I am freaking tired I want to go home and chill out in my apartment which is couchless and pretty much TV-less' - but that is a whole differnet story and let's save one bout of grumpiness for another posting at least.

So, pretty much my whole existance at the moment is geared towards feeling sorry for myself working so much, being a grumpy bitch who is really going to miss Canada but is really looking forward to going back home cos of friends, car, job and money.

Only another 4 more hours of work-induced boredom before I get to go home to sleep before Groundhog Day starts ALL over again.

You wonder why I've not blogged in a while - well may this post remind you of why!

Canadian Musts vs Aussie Musts

2009-04-08T09:07:00.002+10:00

In Canada you must:

Try real maple syrup (don't worry, I'll bring some home)

Take a photo of a moose, beaver, elk, etc

Eat Elk!!!

Use words like 'brutal', 'super', 'sketchy', 'perfect' and 'right on'

Go to the Rockies

Try Beef Jerky

Drink a Caesar - which is tomato and clam juice with some alcohol (vodka?) in it! I have not yet tried one.

Snowboard

Lose a tooth and spit like crazy

In Australia you must:

Eat fish and chips by the beach and feed lone chips to lone seagulls

Go to the beach

See the outback

Contrary to popular belief, do not say 'Chuck a shrimp on the Barbie'

Have a BBQ

Try Fosters and VB (although no real Aussie would drink such crap)

Learn to surf

And probably a shitload more to add to this list but I will keep updating.

Sims

Character Building

2009-04-08T08:57:00.003+10:00

After coming back from my attempt at a run down by the river I am feeling pretty damn unfit right now. My old fitness levels have definitely abandoned me due to lack of nurturing them through my years of living overseas and all my excuses... but now the weather is starting to sun up and I have my cute blue and white Aussie shorts which are determined to see Calgary summer so I am feeling pretty optimistic. Salad for dinner with 'spicy satay' tuna that almost burnt my tongue off.. great start!

I had a job interview today for a school... before you jump to conclusions, I applied for an admin position... since I can't teach here. It's pretty dodgy hours, pretty crap pay ... but ... they have a teaching course that they PAY for us to go on, we just have to commit to those hours in order to obtain the whatever it is the course does. Sooo I kind of figure that it may be worth being in a school environment because it may look my resume a little more desirable when I apply for teaching positions back at home.

Still, the whole job hunting experience has been frustrating and not fun because I am used to getting paid reasonably well - I was getting $18 an hour working in hospitality back in Melbourne, let alone what I was getting paid as a teacher so with what I am getting offered here I feel like I want to die! Still, character building right? It's the experience and what not. To an extent it is, but at the same time, still frustrating.

I am loving living with Kylie though! Has changed my Calgary experience from a negative one to a positive one. We get along well and it's fun! Speaking of, I am going to get ready so we can go to Walmart and find me roller blades!

xo

Who-Do, You-Do, We-Do VOODOO

2009-03-16T08:58:00.003+11:00

I was sure I had some witty and funny story to write about but heavens if I remember what it was actually about so I'm guessing it can't be that entertaining after all..

Random bit of quality information - it has been 171 days since I have moved to Canada... I know, I know.. 'come home' but for some stupid reason ... I can't.. Good luck trying to reason with me as to why not!

You know, I've come to the conclusion that someone has made a voodoo doll of me because I get all these random cuts over my skin that I swear I do not remember obtaining and I've actually been super sober lately (yes, really) so the only logical explanation left is voodoo! Someone has 100% made me into a voodoo doll and randomly creates little cuts and nicks into my skin because there is no way of course I could be doing this myself and not remember... lol! Weird.

Sorry guys not much to report at the moment but I will keep you updated as per requested :o)

Canada Post is a Royal Pain!

2009-02-25T14:52:00.003+11:00

I rediscovered ebay after finding a pair of boots I liked in a shop but refused to pay $185 (plus 5% GST) so one of my friends suggested ebay... Perfect solution, found boots at almost half price and had them shipped to my new apartment because as I am moving out in a couple of days (well, tomorrow) there was no point getting them shipped here..

My gmail account tells me that I have one new message, so I click it open to find that my ebay seller has sent my boots and enclosed a tracking number, so of course, I check the status of my boots... And they had been delivered - but because I am in an apartment, they take all packages directly to the post office and leave a little slip in the letter box telling you where you can pick it up... now of course, I don't have my little slip as I haven't yet moved in so I ring Canada Post and ask what ID I need to collect my mail.

For lack of better description as I can only go by his voice, but the douche bag at Canada Post proceeds to inform me that as I have no proof of address that I cannot claim MY package... to which I say 'that is ridiculous, I have ID with my name on it and have the tracking number and can tell you where the package was shipped from and when'... no dice. He sighs... 'well, I will look into this to see what we can do...' - apparently nothing ... oh so my package gets shipped back to Edmonton in 15 days if I can't produce something with my address on it to confirm... however, I can envision him scratching his head as he ponders this thought.. 'but what you could do is get your current room mate to pick it up for you. Of course, because the package is in your name you would have to authorize her to do so, like write a letter of authorization'... at which point I flipped and pretty much told him that was the most absurd thing I have ever heard because they would give the package to Kylie because she was listed as at that address but wouldn't give it to me even though I had 100% of the other details including ID with MY name on it...

He was getting a bit pissy at this point too and I did feel as though I had to clarify just one thing... and it went something like this and yes, it was a little ridiculous but you need to understand that he was telling me I couldn't pick up my own package due to security reasons (but would let Kylie pick it up?!)... I pretty much argued and asked him if Canada Post checked ID of people who lived in houses when they delivered packages.. he said 'uh no'... and I asked 'well why not?' and apparently if someone is living in the house then it is assumed that they have the authority to be there... I was just being painful now and bitchy so I asked 'well what would happen if a robber was robbing my house but decided to be polite and open the door and took my package?' - silence on the phone - I continued - 'does that mean he has a right to my package?'... I don't think he quite knew what to say but he mentioned something about circles and going round and round so I pretty much told him he was useless and did he even work for the post office I was asking about anyway and he said no... so I asked him for the number of my post office which he told me to google ... asshole ... so I googled it and rang..

Of course, I got someone who couldn't speak English which was great but after another 5 minutes of confusion to determine whether or not my package was there (which it was because the tracking system said so but she was just being frustrating by not speaking English) and told me all I needed was one piece of photo ID!

Ahhh the chaos of trying to pick up the package and stupid people who work at Canada Post!

Lesson be learned - do not put men in charge of anything!

A little bit of pressure goes the wrong way!

2009-02-23T05:55:00.005+11:00

I hate pressure. Air pressure that is! Ever since moving to Calgary my sinuses have gone to shit. Something about Chinooks and the wind from the mountains, whatever, makes my sinuses not very happy and today I'm feeling kind of flat because of this stupid pressure. It doesn't happen every day and I'm sure if I popped a sinus tablet I'd be fine, but, I am against taking unnecessary medication. At least it isn't as bad as Seattle. I found it to be much worse at my mums, I always thought it may have just been my mum who made my head spin ... *kidding* ... but even in Vancouver I had horrible headaches so I'm guessing I didn't spend long enough there to adjust!

The big day arrives on Wednesday when I move into my new apartment! I am pretty excited about this as I have my own bathroom, I can decorate however I want because it is MINE and not someone else's house that I'm moving into, although Kylie will have her stuff there but it's not like someone owns the house and we've moved in like the houses before this.. so... I'm excited. Half my stuff is there now and I've just got my bed and a few random things to move as well so should be fairly painless. I have the cutest shower curtain in the world and this is the teacher coming out in me because it is of little fish with googly eyes! Definitely not what I would have in my own house however because it is so expensive to have a co-ordinated bathroom I figure I can have cute fish for the time

being. Looooooove Walmart!

Another bit of exciting, albeit ridiculous news considering the event I'm excited for is 4 months away ... but I bought my cowboy hat for Calgary Stampede! I went to the mall, saw a hat and decided, heck, why not buy this thing right here and now. So, off I trot to the counter, cowboy hat in hand.. I hand over my magical plastic card which they proceed to swipe... I wait, in anticipation.. accepted... phew, I was worried for a second there when I saw his brow crease in confusion, but soon enough the hat was mine... along with a necklace, earrings, a movie (well, okay so technically I didn't take that home with me, but still!), random house stuff like food storage containers and excited with those purchases, Kylie and I made our way to Moxies, after saying goodbye to Michelle, and proceeded to bitch out boys and girls alike over quite a few Bellinis (her) and Raspberry Temptations (me) be

fore deciding to go home and hit the hay for a reasonably quite Saturday night.

It's Sunday now and my plans for the day include going for a walk to enjoy the niceish weather... considering my room looks like a clothes bomb has gone off, I may even continue tossing things into bags to prepare for M Day but I am pretty sure my enthusiasm won't last for longer than 5 minutes, hence why my clothes are still strewn over the floor right now. Oh, I also acquired a plant from one of my friends who is moving up to Fort McMurray (oil fields) for a few months so now I've been given this daunting task of looking

after Roxanne (see picture)... how do you keep a plant alive...??? I lost fish so I am scared that he will come back only to find Roxanne gone and I will be in b.i.g trouble!!!

London, Fog & Rain

2009-02-20T14:37:00.003+11:00

10 things I miss about the UK...

The ridiculously overcrowded tube in which people are packed in as tight as sardines. I especially miss the stinky armpits pushed up against my nose from the sweaty business men who look like they could use a ten-year free gym membership... eww;
Terrace style housing that are old and run down with cracks in the wall but somehow always managed to feel like home;
Rain and rain and rain and the dusty fog that always manages to accompany this relentless rain;
Ahh the nightlife... the bars, the clubs, the action!! The REDBACK (yes, I know, lame, but some seriously good nights to be had there!)
Music festivals at Hyde Park;
Sharing a room for 8 months with a girl who never washed her sheets and had a dildo hidden in between the sheets... hilarious night when we discovered that!
Random hostel stories that accumulated with travel adventures;
Walking down Oxford Street and getting frustrated at the hoards of people who would stand, awestruck, at the city of London;
Going for walks down the Thames;
My one night job as a bartender on a riverboat that cruised down the Thames!

But all that being said, I loved my time in London, wish I utilised it better but I love my life where I am now and love what I have achieved. I feel so good about how things have turned out (minus the lack of money thing) but I've learnt a lot about who I am and what I want in life..

I can never get London back, nor would I want to - I loved what I had but it was time for me to leave and here I am in Canada and whether I will stay here for years or whether I go home at the end of 2009, whatever choice I make, I will survive - and that is something I often forget. Choices can be made but they are only a choice. Nothing will ever break me down so badly that I can't pick myself back up. I've always been able to jump back up, brush off the dust and start again.

At the end of this month I move into my new house and am excited about that. I have a wicked room mate and she will be a lot of fun. Work is going well, I am still indecisive about what exactly I want to do but welcome to the life of Simone - indecisive is my middle name! Speaking of names, in Canada, I have gotten such a variety of names...

~ Simeron

~ Samantha

~ Tim

~ Simoen

~ Tamera (this one is my favourite!)

And other random names... Apparently they don't understand my accent. Speaking of accents, apparently Janelle (work colleague) thinks my accent is still really thick, Aussie accent. Surprising since I've been gone for two years and even when I went home I felt that my accent wasn't as strong as it once was.... but I guess she has been here six years so her accent would be weaker than mine....

Choices... if only someone could give me a crystal ball and tell me which choice would be the best one to make.

I'm Still a Melbourne Girl

2009-02-12T13:31:00.004+11:00

Yes, I know, slap my wrists and tie me to a chair, I've been slack in the old blogging department but after much demand from... well, okay, my mother, I have taken some time out on this chilly Wednesday evening to continue blogging.

Considering my last post was in December, I am not entirely sure where to begin as so much has happened since then... It freaks me out how fast time has flown because it seems that it was only yesterday that I was traveling Europe, living the high life of the travel bug that I consider myself to be. I miss London more than I ever thought I would and wish I had the chance to go back and do it all again, but knowing what I know now.

February already and to sum up my life since my last post I will list:

I've moved out of my first house, am in my second now and am moving into my third (and hopefully last) place at the end of this month!
My job is going well although I am finding it frustrating at times due to stupid people and I am going to eventually have to write a blog on the stupidity of people I have been interviewing...
Finally ditched that guy in my life who did nothing but drive me insane for all the wrong reasons, can't believe I was stupid enough to go down that road but lesson 110% learnt.
Tried snowboarding for the first time and am able to board down the hill backwards but have yet to master the forward skills.... and have mastered the falling on my ass prerequisite required for beginner boarders.
Surely there is more but I can't think of them right now.

Whilst I am in my listing mood, here is what I miss from home:

Real Milo
Caramello koalas and other Aussie chocolate
The gentle tapping of rain on my window at night while I'm trying to sleep (and the harsh rain that makes you scared your window will break!)
Driving to the beach and having fish and chips, even feeding the chips to the seagulls.
Watching a massive thunderstorm at the beach
My car
All my friends - especially Michelle!!! Zara!!!!! Belinda!!!! and Rita!!!!!
Sand between my toes
My dad
Williamstown
Southbank and the entire city of Melbourne....

Hmmm... lol...

What do I like about Canada:

Hot Canadian accents
My Canadian friends
Being close to my mum
It's pretty here
Snowboarding
Being able to be completely independent
My job
Trucks!

Shitty post, sorry but I have lost my creative writing ability tonight but I will try to update on a more regular basis.

Snow Filled Update

2008-12-04T08:26:00.004+11:00

Wow it's been a while since the last post which I guess has to do with the fact that not alot has been happening... Well, actually, I lie! A lot has happened however I think it best that perhaps I don't share everything I've been up to because... well, let's just say I know how to cause trouble on occasion!

I will say that my hands, in fact, my whole body, is not reacting well to this Calgary coldness. It dries you up something shocking and everybody loves to remind me to moisturise but I never have enough time in the morning because if you know me, I leave getting out of bed as late as I possibly can... in fact, I've been leaving getting out of bed so late for the past two weeks at this job that I have been catching the bus to the hospital I am working at, at 8.20am when I am actually meant to be arriving at work at 8am... So, you can see how I just don't have time to slather and applicate moisturiser to my body in the mornings.. perhaps this will need to change, especially since I have decided to attend the gym in the mornings before work when I start my new job - wow, I think I have a lot to update on in this one blog entry!!

Yes, you read correctly. I am no longer working for the surgeon anymore but I have moved on to bigger and better things and am now going to be working for a 'boutique' recruitment company downtown. This means that the benefits aren't so great (read: non-existant), the salary is low (read: draw salary so pretty much commission only) but then again, there are perks - I am stepping out of my comfort zone and am challenging myself in a career which I am excited about. I will be working in the finance, legal and accounting division and I hear you all going 'oh shit' - my thoughts exactly, but the thing is, I want to get into HR or something eventually - first of all, recruitment skills - brilliant, second of all, learning about legal, finance and accounting skills would be excellent too! So, I am excited and can I just add right now that if you are going to comment with something negative then please don't bother and let me be excited. If this doesn't work out for whatever reason then I will move on but I am sick of people judging this job before I have even started - my theory is that if there are people who have been working there for 5-6 years with this draw salary system then it must work and if it works for them it can work for me. The only reason it won't work for me is if I don't like the job - and in which case, I wouldn't stay!

So what else has been happening in Simone's world...

Our crazy house mate - I don't think I have the finger-typing patience for the extended details right now... She's gotten better, I think the whole yelling, threatening, 'I won't take shit from you' thing just needed to come out and now we're never going to be BFFs but we are all okay now.

I joined a gym - finally - and have been attempting to go but it's so easy to want to go home when it is cold outside... although, I did that last night and got home and was completely bored so ended up wishing I'd just gone to the gym anyway!

There are boy stories, of course, nothing exciting, just that the guys I like aren't interested and the ones who I have no interest in are too available and needy which I don't like... so, yeah that's my life for now!

Oh and I can't believe I forgot to mention this - Kirsty, Courtney, Lisa and I went to a hockey game at the Saddle Dome!! I have included some pics. It was amazing - they skate so fast and get into so many fights. On occasion they bang against the plastic window that is protecting us which managed to scare Kirsty on quite a few occasions. It was strange because they served POPCORN at a hockey game so we were sitting there munching our buttery popcorn which was so oily and delicious!

And, on this end note - guess where I will be going after New Years - LAS VEGAS!!! So excited to be going there! Kirsty and her brother will be heading there after they've done Christmas in Ottowa so Courtney and I are meeting them in Vegas! That means my New Years will be pretty quiet and I won't be doing much (if anything) but I can handle that if I go to Vegas! Christmas will also be a sad and lonely affair as well because the whole house will be gone with the exception of Nathan but I bet he has somewhere he can go soooo it'll just be me... so sad :-(

House and All That Jazz

2008-11-13T16:14:00.002+11:00

Just a quick one tonight to give you a brief update on what is happening in Simone Land!

I'm still in the process of trying to find an amazing job and have an interview lined up on Tuesday for a recruiting company. It's actually my 2nd interview and it is with the founder of the company so hopefully all goes well because this is a job I really want. It'd be a stressful and demanding job but it's what I want. First I would have to get companies to sign up to the recruiting company and once I've got them signed up, I would then need to find candidates to fill the empty positions within the company. A lot of work involved but whoa, it'd be an achievement once I did it all. Every day would not be boring that's for sure. Although at the start it may be a little tough but lucky for me I'm determined!

We now have 2 other people in our house, an Aussie guy who is cool and a Canadian girl who I have a feeing doesn't like me very much. I'm sure the kinks will work themselves out once we learn more about each other. It is always hard at first. I also know I can come across as bitchy towards new people because I am trying to figure them out and while I am trying to figure them out I come across as snobbish. I may need to work on that perhaps. There are loads of things I need to work on. Over trying to figure what 'those things' are because it drives me insane. I just want to be perfect already.

Not missing home, just missing people. You know who you are. And if you are thinking 'is she missing me?' then YES I am missing you! Unless of course I have never met you in my life and then no I'm probably not missing you very much at all.

I manage to always feel like such an uber bitch at times which I hate. I think I'm nice and usually AM nice but sometimes I really don't feel nice. Having a self-doubt day I guess. I just wish I was easy to get along with and laid back but I guess that's not me initially! Gotta be happy with what I've got.

So I am still working at the hospital for a surgeon which is cool although a Dr emailed me today to complain about something the other girl before me did which I had no idea how to change... so I emailed her back and politely told her I had no idea what she was on about and that I was new to the position and appreciated her being patient and understanding while I learnt the new position which I thought was a nice email. I never heard back from her regarding the issue so obviously she decided not to bother. I was wasting her precious Dr time apparently! Ah, such is life.

My goal is to think of at least three positive things that happen each day so to focus on the good events rather than the shitty little stuff that I should just not worry about. Easier said than done!

I am still enjoying Canada and the weather is surprisingly nice. I was expecting really cold weather and snow but it changes quite frequently. Today was nice and on the weekend it was so sunny we could wear t-shirts but it changed pretty quickly and we got cold! We went down to the park though and it was gorgeous!

Will keep you updated on the job front as well as the rest of what is happening on this side of the world. If anyone ever decides to come and visit, we have some awesomely comfy couches!

Miss ya all
S

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T10:51:00.002+11:00

So, yesterday was Halloween... You know how in the movies you see kids dressed up in costumes and they come to the door shouting 'trick or treat' and they are so cute... well, this was like a movie! Kids came to our door and they were adorable. We had one kid who knocked on our door and shouted 'trick or treat' so we moved the candy bowl in front of him and he kept grabbing and grabbing and GRABBING more and more chocolate from our half empty bowl... Kirsty went to move the bowl away and his hands kept coming but this time grabbing air. The parent he was with reminded the child of what do they say now, and the kid looked us straight in the eye and demanded 'I WANT MORE CHOCOLATE' - to which we tried to politely laugh while stuffing the chocolate away before slamming the door shut... okay, bit dramatic and we thought he was cute but oh my goodness, the parents need to work on that child's manners!

Kirsty and I got all dressed up - her in a witches costume and me in a vampire costume although my fangs wouldn't work so I decided against them after the first 5 minutes. We had fun, drank way too much and met a load of people which was great. We had a mini-party at our house which went until around 11 and then we decided we should probably head out... So, we went to this place called The Back Alley and the line was huge so we ended up Downtown at some random place that was dead before heading onto another club called Amsterdam Rhino where I proceeded to talk to the ghost from PacMan... it was fun to see everyone all dressed up in costume! Some people went to extremes and made some amazing costumes..

Can't wait to celebrate again next year!

Just a quick note on the job sitch - still temping but now at the hospital. Have interview tomorrow for call centre job but decided I don't really want it but will take it for consistency with job. Had an interview for a recruiting company on Thursday last week which I think went really well and I need to call the manager so I can talk to the bigger manager who will apparently try to scare me out of the job to make sure I am really right for this company! Bit scared cos this job would be amazingly hard and stressful but really rewarding too!

As for the boy situation, have met a few, been on a few dates which has been fun but so far I haven't really been overly interested in the guys that I have met but, will keep you posted!

Love love love to you all
Simone
xxx

One Month In!

2008-10-30T13:47:00.003+11:00

So, it's been a month since I've arrived on Canadian soil and I've been hunting for a decent job for a while now. Well, probably only the past 2 and a half weeks of serious looking since I managed to score a temping job with an agency but quickly realised that the agency would only give me the shitty jobs no one else wants to do!

I thought I could handle the admin type jobs, to get office experience, but after 3 weeks of doing nothing but make boxes, photocopy, occasionally be allowed the odd job of binding reports if I'm lucky and typing up other peoples terrible handwritten notes, has got to be one of the mindless jobs ever. I always thought doing nothing at work would be fun but I honestly do much prefer the fast-paced, stressful environment because I feel useful! Oh, did I mention I'm on reception for two hours a day - and spend the whole time on Facebook, Gmail or whatever other random site I feel like perusing.

Back to the job situation though - I've had a few interviews and was 'unsuccessful' even though I was 'great but just lack experience' (seriously you should be able to tell that from my RESUME so don't give me that bullshit) and instead of feeling knocked back, it's just making me more determined to get the job I really want.. which is heading into HR. Now, I've been told I need experience... but, there are loads of recruiting jobs which you don't need loads of experience for which is my foot into HR... so, let's hope my interview for a recruiting company tomorrow goes well. But then I also have an interview for another company which is a call centre type job - which would mean - way more friends because it's a large organization, better benefits, less stress and the potential to move up within the company... OR if I got the recruitment job with the smaller company.. it'd mean working with older people, more stressful BUT my foot in the HR door... I hate decisions. Then again I don't even know which (if any) of the jobs I will get so guess I will just need to wait and see.

Missing home a lot lately too. The warm weather, my car, friends, Spring Racing Carnival.... loving it here too, but ... hard without a car and I just feel like I am only half living here because the visa is restricting - like, can't get a car loan (not that I'd want to) and jobs are less willing to take you on because of your visa... but, persistence pays off!

More soon!

xxx

Simone Hearts Calgary

2008-10-19T10:13:00.004+11:00

It has been two and a half weeks since Kirsty and I have shuffled ourselves over to the province of Alberta and set up a life in Calgary. At first, I hated it and was contemplating moving back to Vancouver but then I got a temp job working downtown and doing boring shit but at least it got me out of bed and social which made me happier. I've also been applying for other jobs that I actually want too and have an interview for one job on Monday as a recruiter so cross your fingers for me that I get it! If I don't get a good job in Calgary then I think I will end up moving back to Vancouver earlier than 6 months but we'll see what happens.

Kirsty and I are loving the house. It is gorgeous and even though it is a bit far from downtown it is a nice area and well worth it. We're still looking for our ideal house mate though. There are a few people coming tomorrow to check things out so hopefully one of them pans out okay!

Last night we had a few quiet drinks at home with a couple of guys we'd randomly met. They came to our place and turned out that they were really boring. One of them went home and the other one was Canadian so we convinced him to drive us to a pub down the road... which he did.. when we got there, we drank quite a fair bit more and started speaking to a group of boys from Saskatchewan who were in Alberta for a friends wedding. They invited us back to their hotel to party it up some more when the bar closed so of course we went back with them.

Oh my goodness.. from the moment we made that decision, life got crazy! I jumped in the back of some guys truck, I don't even know if it was owned by the people we were with or a random car! I said I'd drive, which was ridiculous cos I was wasted but I would never have actually gotten behind the wheel. We caught a taxi to the hotel and partied it up with the boys and Jason, the guy who I was getting friendly with, convinced me to go swimming in the hotel pool at 3am. The security guard found us in there and kicked us out so we ended up going on a huge adventure trying to hide from the security guard and ended up behind the scenes of the hotel and in their function rooms and kitchens. Probably not a good idea but it was heaps of fun. We ended up with a few free bottles of soft drink and juice. We ended up crashing with them in their hotel room and got woken up by my phone at 5am and then again at 8am which is when they had to wake up to help set up the decorations for the wedding. So, Kirsty and I left and ended up getting home just after 9 and I slept until 2pm! Excellent way to spend a Saturday. I haven't done that for so long so I didn't mind too much.

More happened that I should probably not say so I'm going to end this now! Overall a fun night!

Sun and Snow and JOBS in Calgary!

2008-10-10T09:47:00.003+11:00

WoW! It snowed yesterday in Calgary - just little tiny snowflakes but it was exciting. Kirsty was more excited than me. My reaction was more "oh shit if it's snowing already then what's it going to be like in 3 months." Still, I knew that before I moved here and it'll be exciting or, really annoying!

I bought a pair of black Airwalks which are totally not my style of shoe but I figure getting to and from work in sneakers is not a good way to go because you end up at work with wet feet. Even though it is okay walking through snow, the snow melts and then your feet end up wet - it is not fun and I learnt that the hard way in London. Not making that mistake twice. So even though they may not be my style they will keep my feet warm and I figure that I can either keep my work shoes at work or pack them in a bag and take them with me each day. Too easy!

Job prospects have been slowly happening... I had an interview with a recruitment agency and they have set me up with a two week block working in admin in some kind of company that is looking for someone with more accounting experience - I'm worried because I have no accounting background at all and I actually suck at maths in any form so here's to hoping they don't expect much from a temp on the accounting side of things. I think it is more just invoices but I guess I'll find out next week.

While I am happy to have had this job lined up for next week, I just went for an impromptu interview as a Recruitment Consultant for another company. I met with the manager and he wants me back for a second interview but he said he'd call tomorrow to line up the time and date which is screwed because he wants to interview Tues/Wed next week which is when I am meant to be in the admin role. I'm not too sure what to do because if I go for the second interview but don't get the job then I am out of work for 2 weeks... tricky!

I've also started getting random calls from other companies that I've applied to so I think I will be fine getting a job. I really want the recruitment position because it pays well and sounds like it will be fast paced and challenging - not to mention completely different from what I have done before.

So, it's all starting to happen. Kirsty and I have been told we can keep the house for a little longer than we expected, we just need to find a third person for the house because the landlord wants to up our rent. I think it'll be fun having a third person in the house. We're hoping for a male to even out the dynamics, I think another female would make the house too bitchy. Not that it is bitchy now but it could get that way with three of us. We'll see.

ROAD TRIP!!!

2008-10-05T11:11:00.003+11:00

Well I have finally decided it is about time that I sat down and spent some time blogging rather than emailing off a zillion resumes to potential employees - but we will get to that later.

I think I have been in Canada for just over a week now and - WOW - I am loving it. I don't think I am coming home for a while considering I can keep getting a visa until I am 30.. I spent a few days in Vancouver and had some amazing weather. I got my bank account and SIN set up which is basically like a tax file number in Australia. When I met up with Kirsty the day before we drove to Calgary she took me to get my mobile phone. I went with Koodo which is a cheap phone provider. Phones aren't like they are back home, they're pretty shitty but hey, it's cheap and it will get the job done. I was shocked at first but then I thought that if these are the only options open to Canadians then it can't be that bad. $25 a month gets me unlimited texts - international too - and 100 minutes, although, stupidly, when people call me on their phones, I still get minutes charged from MY phone - happens on all networks. Canada is a little backwards.

So, the road trip was hilarious! Kirsty and I are going to be so much trouble together.. It's amazing what happened in the whole day drive it took us to get to Calgary.

We saw a dead cow in the back of some rednecks ute with its poor hoof dangling lifelessly over the edge which was one of the two times that Kirsty and I actually stopped talking the entire trip. We were shocked. Poor cow. Oh, did I mention we had hamburgers for lunch? Actually, we stopped off at White Spot and grabbed some burgers and fries (is that more American than Canadian?) but as I was parking the car, Kirsty was excitedly yelling "Maccas" and because she was garbling on about that I kind of accidently forgot to brake and our nice, new, RENTED Chrysler ended up with a nasty scratch on the front bumper.. oops. Luckily they had included a fee that covered us for such stupid incidents.

It was a really long drive and Kirsty and I took shifts. Whenever I was driving, Kirsty would FREAK out and shriek for me to get back in the lane - she had this fear that I would hit the side railings, which I was totally never anywhere near! Whenever Kirsty drove, I was gripping the edges of my seat tightly! Needless to say, neither of us slept on the drive. Neither of us veered onto the Australian side of the road either, we both managed to stay completely alert to the new and weird Canadian driving expectations of driving on the right... Awesome. At one point, I freaked out because I thought someone was driving on our side of the road and was heading straight for us - turns out the other side of the road had an overtaking lane added for a few kms... but a few hours later, the unthinkable actually happened and we really DID have someone veering onto our side of the road because they were overtaking a truck but chose to ignore the double yellow lines ... I acted really calmly and slowed down and they managed to scrape back into their lane in the nick of time. This was the second time that Kirsty and I managed to say zilch because real fear had kicked in. It was quite scary.

Anyways, continuing on our way, Kirsty randomly blurts out "Simone, do you want to steal a traffic cone?" and of course, I say "sure". So, she pulls over and out I jump trying to grab one of these bright orange sticks with the fluorescent white strips at the top... It's amazing - the once empty road was now littered with cars. So I pretend to stand there stretching waiting for them to leave when suddenly a car pulls over on the opposite side of the road.. Kirsty and I were like "fuck, let's hope they aren't coming over to us" because we had a traffic cone sitting right next to our open car door - turns out they just wanted a stretch too and went on their merry way. We hoisted the traffic cone and continued onto Calgary!

We finally reach Calgary at ridiculous o'clock at night and we were exhausted. We were so happy that we were FINALLY there and almost at our awesome house - and drove down the highway for ages trying to find our turnoff... except, we drove about 20 minutes too far. At the time we didn't know this and stopped off at a petrol station to figure out where we had to go and got about 3 people trying to give us directions. I was tired and cranky so was a little rude and walked out while Kirsty got the rest of the details and we backtracked so we could find our house! Another half an hour later and about 4 cop cars later we still had no idea where we were going and Kirsty was freaking out with all the cop cars driving past and pulling people over so we decided to ditch the traffic cone... *sorry sigh*

It seems that after we did this good deed it didn't take us long to find the house and we passed no more cop cars. Damn, we could have had a bright orange traffic cone as a backyard decoration.. We were so excited to finally reach our house and we went looking for the keys which they said they'd put under one of the pot plants... Now, this pot plant was fucking heavy and it was placed on wooden decking, so of course, what happens.... the keys fall UNDER the decking and onto the grass - at 1am! Why would we have ever thought to have brought a flashlight, so we had to use our phones to try and see where the keys had fallen - Kirsty used her camera to try and see if she could see it from the flash and took a million photos of grass.. excellent! We couldn't find the keys on the grass at all - turns out they'd fallen into this super tiny bucket which was full of disgustingly dirty looking stuff... Kirsty got the keys out... :-)

Quickly explored the house which is awesome and jumped into bed.

The house is double story and it's a 1/4 acre block that goes right along to the river. It's a gorgeous view. We have a backyard decking which is great and a massive kitchen. There is an upstairs living area where we spend most of our time and a downstairs living area with a fireplace and really comfy leather couches. Two bathrooms but we're only using the upstairs one because it is nicer and bigger than the downstairs one and will be easier to keep clean. Kirsty is in the master bedroom upstairs and I chose the downstairs bedroom because it was the only other room with a double bed and the single beds are kid beds and really springy and uncomfortable. I want to take the canoe out but it is really dirty and gross and I am scared of bugs hiding in there and getting stuck on the river!

Have more random thoughts about Canada and the differences with home but am running out of battery power and I need to keep you coming back for more now, don't I!?

Hope you are all well back at home
xxx

@ Mum's in Seattle

2008-09-25T01:43:00.001+10:00

After spending six enjoyable weeks being on the go pretty much the whole time, it has been nice to come to mums house and be able to relax and unwind. Jet lag was fun, I spent the first few nights in bed by 6pm and waking up ridiculously early. Still, I am well over that and am starting to get into this time zone. Perfect because it means when I get to Canada my body will already be set to that time zone.

Mum and I have gone shopping, we went to a Chinese buffet which is really nice food considering it is a buffet... Mum took me to a shopping centre where I got a couple of pairs of jeans because it is cold here considering I have been in 30 degree heat for the past 6 weeks. I'm looking out the window of mums house and it is cloudy and cool outside. Guess I will need to get ready for the cold weather. We went to a fair which was similar to the Melbourne Show - except it was smaller and had no show-bags. It was fun. There were rides but it was raining so I decided against going on any. Mum bought fairy floss, I haven't had that in years! I didn't go into Seattle this time around.. we were too busy doing other stuff. No Space Needle for me, but I figure Calgary Tower will be just as exciting!

I decided that I'd get my hair done while I was here because blonde hair with six weeks of brown roots is not a good look. What a bad idea. I told the hairdresser what I wanted done.. but she insisted she was the expert and I therefore ended up with orange looking hair with a bad cut. I was so upset but the colour toned down the next day and turned out okay, thank goodness, although the roots aren't the colour I wanted them to be because she didn't listen to me when I told her my hair finds it harder to hold colour. I hate how they think they know everything just because we aren't trained hairdressers - but I've had my hair died before by someone different therefore, I think I know what happens when my hair gets dyed... Frustrating.

Then, I wanted to get my eyebrows waxed - once again, six weeks of no waxing and no time for tweezing left them looking a little untidy... so, stupidly went back to the same place because mum swears by this salon... Fair enough, mum likes it there, let's give the waxing a go.. All I have to say is I am NEVER going back there again. She took way too long to wax each eye resulting in more pain because she doubled up on waxing parts of my eyebrow and that hurt. She also plucked what felt like 5 hairs at once and it felt like hair was being yanked out of my eyebrow instead of carefully plucked. The worst thing of all was when she decided to CUT the hair on my eyebrows with a pair of scissors. I almost cried. I didn't want my eyebrows snipped. I told her not to cut the other eyebrow hair because when you cut the hair, you cut the point off therefore making the hair appear THICKER which defeats the purpose of getting your eyebrows waxed because you want them to look less bushy. She thought I was crazy but didn't cut the other eyebrow and when I got home I could tell that one eyebrow (the one she cut) looks darker than the one she didn't cut. I was... actually no.. I AM furious. She snipped it before I even had a chance to do anything. The point of my eyebrow will never come back now. Stupid woman. To top it all off I had to tip her because that is what American's do! ergh. Not happy Jan

** Tomorrow I will be in Vancouver!! ** I am a little excited about this but also a little nervous. I will spend 5 days there and am hoping to set up a bank account and stuff before Kirsty and I move to Calgary. I'm not sure how long I want to spend in Calgary at the moment but I'm thinking between 3-6 months... we'll see.

Thinking Thoughts

2008-09-13T04:48:00.003+10:00

Oh! This is my last night in Turkey. While I have enjoyed every moment of the last six weeks I am really looking forward to having ten days where I can unpack my suitcase and not have to worry about where my passport is or having to hand wash my undies in the sink or sharing a room with an annoying American who talks when I am obviously trying to sleep! There have been ups and downs to this trip - there always are. Can't escape that. I am proud to admit that so far there have been no tears. I've come close twice but have kept it under control.

Overall, comparing trips, I absolutely LOVED Spain and had such an amazing time in Spain that I was ready to pack up and go straight to Canada from there because to me, nothing could beat Spain. Even though Turkey was pretty amazing, Spain still kicked Turkey's ass. There were too many ruins in Turkey and the tour didn't allow enough free time or even relaxation time to do as we pleased, we were always literally on the go.

Another reason why I liked Spain so much is because I had awesome people on my tour. Morocco and Turkey there were a few older people and it kind of took the fun level down a bit - I think subconsciously people toned down their behavior to 'respect' the elders. To be honest, by the time I got to Turkey I was over it especially cos in my mind I was already telling myself there was no way it could be as fun as Spain... I miss the friends I made in Spain and half of them are living in London and I wish I could have met them earlier cos they were such good value...

I think my travel bug is complete for a while. I still want to go to Africa and South America but I think I need to start thinking about saving money and... *gasp* my future, so travel plans are on hold at the moment. I should be excited about Canada but I am a pile of nerves. Starting AGAIN. I guess that is part of the reason why I was so excited to go to Calgary with Kirsty because she is a familiar face and it won't be so scary if there is two of us.

Thinking about it, I kind of miss London. Not living there because the weather really was shit but I miss the freedom that I had and I just don't think it will feel the same in Canada. Unless you have lived in London I don't think you can really understand what I mean. Life in London is so totally different from anything else I have experienced. Antipodean central.. which isn't always such a great thing. It was almost like being back at home with all the familiar accents yet at the same time you were so far away from home that these unfamiliar Aussies became so familiar that they become your family. I miss feeling like I was a part of something because at the moment I don't really fit anywhere.. not Australia because I have left yet again... not London because that was always temporary and in some ways very fake... not Canada either... I'm actually really looking forward to finding a new house and a job and settling in one spot for a while.. Give me a few months and I'll be hanging for another holiday.. always!

Oh and last surprise.. I am actually considering teaching in Canada.. I think this realisation came because I am scared of finding a job outside of teaching because it is out of my comfort zone... funny how I can travel the world independently yet when it comes to thinking about a job outside of teaching I get nervous. Why is that?

Cappadocia

2008-09-12T04:52:00.003+10:00

Once upon a time with a good friend of mine, we created lists of things that we wanted to do. Some things were random like... buying a new camera or going for a drive down the Great Ocean Road.... I think we even had strawberry picking which we did together... and I'm not sure whether this was on that particular list or if this was on a new list but I wanted to go hot air ballooning. What better chance to go hot air ballooning then in Cappadocia in Turkey! Apparently this is meant to be the 2nd best spot in the world. The best spot is meant to be somewhere in France.

Anyways, up we get at 5.30am and head down to the ballooning site where they are preparing our balloons. Coffee, tea and cakes are there for us to munch on whilst we wait but it's too early for sweet stuff so I hop around taking photos of the balloons being inflated. I was really excited. Our balloons were ready and 20 people can fit in each balloon. The way the baskets are set up, they are spilt into four sections with five people in each section. There is a section in the middle for the pilot with two sections on either side of him. To get into the basket you have to climb in and stupidly I wore thongs (flip flops, sandals, whatever) which kept trying to slip off. Interesting times. I thought that it'd be a little bit more exciting than it actually was. We just floated up into the sky gently and stayed quite close to the ground although we did go up quite high a few times which made my legs feel a little bit weak and I grasped onto the rails just that little bit tighter - because of course, grabbing onto the rails tighter would totally help me if the balloon actually fell... Funny how small things make you feel more secure even though in reality it would do nothing to help you.

The flight was around 1 hour and the view was spectacular. I will upload a video when I get a chance and you will see what I'm talking about!

Cappadocia is such a cool place because there are so many rock formations thanks to volcanic activity (once again, tuned out to tour guides loooong monologue so only have a vague idea) but a long time ago people carved into the rock and created man-made caves. They lived in these caves until around the 60s when I'm pretty sure they were forced out. We went to an open air museum where we could walk around the caves and see how they used to live. It would have taken them ages to carve out the rocks. They had made stairs in the rocks and also foot-holes so they could climb up to other levels.

We also went to an underground city which has a similar idea to that of the mountain caves except this was underground! Now, this was spectacular. They had dug up to 35m underground and set up life underground. They only used the underground system during the winter months and in summer they lived on land and worked on the farms to provide the food for the winter. According to the Turkish, there are around 36 discovered underground cities but there are expected to be 200 in total. Some of them are obviously destroyed and have been caved in but the one that we saw was really well preserved. The way they set up the ventilation shafts and used them also as a well is just sheer brilliance. Very clever people, but seriously, I don't know why they just couldn't have lived on land and just made a fire instead of spending all this time digging 35m underground... It was so cold too - very chilly. Claustrophobic too. The tunnels were steep and very narrow in some points which was to stop the enemy from gaining easy access to their city.

Its only been two days and I am already struggling to think of what we did in Cappadocia. Today we went to the Ihlara Valley and went on a baby hike down the canyon. It was gorgeous. Huge canyons on either side of me and in the middle were gorgeous trees and a stream running through it. Very pretty. We saw a turtle and he came out of the water before getting scared by the 15 of us surrounding him so he scurried back into the water. Lunch was spent sitting on the stream - literally. There had been mini platforms built over the water and we could sit on them. The only problem was the wasps. I hate bugs and creepy crawlies so everytime one came near me I let out a mini shriek... only when they came and landed right beside me. I think I squealed twice. Yes, I know it is childish and they are just bugs and I won't die if I got stung but I still don't like the thought of that happening and I don't know if I am allergic so yes, I am scared. Anyways, one of the older guys on the tour, I think he is 55-56, told me off. When I squealed the very first time he said to me in a dad-like voice 'SIMONE. SETTLE. DOWN' and I told him I don't like the wasps. He replied that they wouldn't hurt me and then another one came near me, I didn't shriek but I was moving and obviously trying to make the wasp disappear and he shouted at me again. I felt ridiculously like a child and felt annoyed that he was speaking to me like that. Sure, it may not have been very adult-like to be scared of a wasp and I never said that it was a 'mature' reaction but nevertheless, I bet he would not have spoken like that to one of the other older people on the tour if they had reacted in such a way and I think that is what annoyed me the most.

I just don't have the patience for the people on this tour. I am tired of touring and spending time in hotels. Don't get me wrong, I have loved every minute but there comes a point when I have reached my tolerance level and I think I hit that point a week ago. I don't want to have someone come into the room and try to talk to me about pointless shit every night or to knock on the bathroom door after I've been in there barely a minute to ask how long I'm going to be or all the other annoying shit that room sharing brings. Once again, this just comes down to tolerance levels and I've lost patience.

I'm also feeling really unsure about things at the moment. I think that's just because I'm tired and finding it hard to focus. I resigned from my job at CSC and I feel relieved but now I am thinking about teaching in Canada which totally contradicts EVERYTHING I have ever said about Canada and even in general. I still don't know what I want and sometimes I think that at 24 I should know exactly what I want. It seems like everyone else knows and I am stuck in some limbo land still trying to figure it out. Whatever 'it' is. I know that isn't true and it's only been the last two days I've felt like this and I think it is also partly because I have let a few comments that people have made get under my skin even though they are nothing comments.

On a final note, there is this stupid fly buzzing around the hotel room and I can't catch it and it is really bugging me... pardon the pun. How many days does it take flies to die cos this one has been in here for 2 days now! Ugh!

Simone
xx

Elevator Love

2008-09-09T04:51:00.004+10:00

I just got stuck in an elevator in our Turkish hotel! Seriously! There were four of us in the lift and were just about ready to push the number buttons to go up to our floor level when the big, fat Lebanese girl decided to squish in with us... As soon as she went to get in, alarm bells were ringing in my head but what could I say?

We went up half a floor and I was watching as we fell straight back down.. but we fell a little below the bottom floor and this meant the lift door would not open as we were not in the correct lift alignment.

So we spent 10 minutes in the lift, cramped in together, sweating like pigs. Mark was screaming and swearing his head off at the Turkish hotel workers complaining because he couldn't believe this hadn't happened before and they couldn't fix it IMMEDIATELY. I was laughing hysterically cos I thought it was funny - I would not have thought it was as funny if we'd been stuck in between floors or stuck on any floor other than the bottom floor. The fat Lebanese girl was huffing by the door, pounding it as though her pounding would somehow make the door magical open.

A few of the guys we went to dinner with were standing outside the lift door giving us a commentary on what was happening. One of the girls, Amanda, made us laugh cos she told the others, very seriously, to make sure we were updated while she went out for a cigarette. Thanks Amanda!

So we get rescued 10 minutes later and decide to climb the stairs to our fourth and fifth floor rooms! I get to my room and bang on the door and my American room mate answers. I tell her my story and she goes 'oh no' and then proceeds to talk about her day.. I'm like 'seriously, we were just STUCK IN THE LIFT' and she said nothing. So, now I am ignoring all her rubbish because she is still talking to me whilst I am typing this and I hate when people try talking to me when I am obviously not interested in what they are saying.

Overall, interesting experience that has never happened to me before and of all places for me to get stuck in a lift, it happens in Turkey!

Ruins and ruins and ruins and MORE ruins...

2008-09-08T21:17:00.004+10:00

I am so sick of seeing ruins. Seriously they all start to look the same after a while and then our tour guide talks for 15 minutes about each area of the ruins and my attention span does not last that long so I tune out and end up getting bored. Still, today we went to an old Roman amphitheater which was brilliant because the acoustics were great... some people from our tour climbed to the top while our tour guide was giving his spiel and when they came back down they said they could hear him from all the way up the top. Go the Romans!
We have also visited a Hellenistic amphitheater somewhere else in Turkey which was quite different to the Roman one. Hellenistic amphitheaters focus more on the background scenery whereas Roman amphitheaters focus on the acoustics. Even the structure is different because Hellenistic amphitheaters are half-moon shaped to show the background scenery whereas Roman amphitheaters are a complete circle to maintain the acoustics I guess. I had fun attempting to whistle and speak in the Roman one and you could hear people so clearly no

matter where you were standing - I decided now was not the time to bitch about the annoying American I'm room sharing with. Even when people were walking up the stairs, you could hear it echo. It was fun.

Other news... I am extremely dehydrated from sunning myself out on the gulet deck and am trying to keep my water intake under control to re-hydrate. I am enjoyin

g sitting in the air-conditioned hotel room because to be honest I am getting sick of constantly being round people 24/7, especially the annoying American. She asked if she could share a room with someone else last night so she doesn't like me either... but then had the audacity to ask if she could borrow my laptop.. I told her a bit fat NO. Well, I kind of hinted that I didn't want her using it and she got the hint...

This is the view from the Hellenistic Amphitheater

I'm meant to be meeting up with red-headed Pommy Tim later to go for a walk around Antalya but he hasn't come to find me so I think he's ditched me. He is hilarious. He is a red-headed Brit who is SO uncoordinated that he provides such a fantastic source of entertainment for the bus. Today I went to get on the bus only to hear that he'd managed to lock his key in his room with all his luggage inside... anyways, his door finally gets opened and we're all on the bus waiting for him... He comes down with his whole set of luggage only to get on the bus to find us all laughing hysterically because we are staying at the hotel one more night - and he'd checked himself out... nevermind the sunscreen smears that are constantly on his face.. he works with computers and he is the typical stereotype of a computer geek... glasses and hunched over, very amusing. If he read this though he probably wouldn't think it so amusing. Oh, he is 33.. yeah, he missed the lessons on personal grooming too. There are constantly bits that he has missed shaving over a couple of days so he has parts of growth that are stubbly and others clean-shaven. I don't understand how anyone can be THAT unco?!

I love to observe others and find watching people quite entertaining. I was waiting for a friend at Liverpool Street Station a few months ago and she was running late so I found a seat and sat and watched people and the time flew by. Sometimes I chuck my iPod in and I often forget that iPods do not make me invisible and get caught out people watching... hmm.. I would not work well as a spy.

Gonna end this now cos it has turned into a bit of a ramble post.