Saturday 18th December = 100 days since I left England

So I'm pretty sure one of the reasons I left England was because I hate the cold.....right, nice one....Canada's FREEEEEZING, and I have pretty good reason to believe that it's only gonna get colder here! But on the plus side, with cold comes snow and ice!!!!!

So on Tuesday I finally made my board happy, and got it out on the snow, in what has easily been the best day I've had since I left England. It felt so amazing to be cruising down a mountain on my board again. Felt like I picked it up (well almost) where I left off in Andorra, three and a half years ago. Although I was cutting through the trees three years ago! I didn't get any pictures from the top of the mountain, but these are at the base at the end of the day:

I will take more when I'm up there next.

I've also been ice skating on a lake this week, which is pretty cool. Finally headed into Jasper town. And we had the Fairmont Christmas Party this week. In which they wouldn't give me any free drink tokens cos I don't "official work for JPL"....well I'm skint so I'm gonna keep drinking the wine that you leave on our table!!! That was a crazy night, going to bed at 6:30 to wake up at "6:50" to open up the store at "8"! (And in the start of my last blog I said that I now need to be careful with what I post....nuff said)!

When I finished work last Saturday I had a wonder around the JPL (Jasper Park Lodge) just to wonder about and check it out:

The frozen lake. They even put goals up for hockey, I need to get a stick!!!

The JPL

It's amazing, whilst I was on my walk, I also saw several squirrels, all of which I tried to take a photo of (and failed)......after trying I thought to myself, "that's a bit strange, I'd never try and take of photo of a squirrel back in England", and Canadian squirrels are nothing special to be honest with you.

I'm still trying to decide how long I plan on staying here in Jasper (and maybe Canada), I like it here, and the people, and I love the mountains, but I really don't like being this remote, and I dunno if I wanna stay here and rinse through my money for too much longer. I kinda realised that the reason I love the places that I visit in America is because they are real America. Jasper is amazing, and full of Canadians, but it's still a touristy area, and I really can't shake away from the Centre Parcs / Butlins vibe, and the Butlins vibe is sadly the area that I'm living in, although I do always seem to have amazing next door neighbours. Look what my current one's did to my door when I first got here:

I also forgot to add these in my last blog, this is the sun setting in the Jasper mountains (aka where I live), and also a lot of snow. I just wish I had my actual camera on me at the time and not just my phone....sorry.....but to be fair no photo will do this mountain range any justice!

I still can't figure out how to upload my video from my last blog. I still need to speak to my American chum back in England.

On one final note, I hate white tail (deer) tonight......sweet as! How Canadian can you get, I just wanna eat moose now!

Unlucky Sucker!!!!

Hahahaha!!!! Sucker!

No seriously I only took that photo (back in Vancouver) for that exact reason....you all my be suckers...but I am a loser.

No, sorry....official blogger time now, enough with the sillys. So anyway I now know that I need to be even more careful what I right on my blog, since I've found out certain "Moms" have been reading my blog... apparently you don't need to be my friend on facebook to see my delightful page on my facebook account..dam you facebook, the vain of my life. Plus I'm working again, so I need to create a professional image of myself.......yeah I know, not really, what a waste of time that'd be!!!

The best thing is after several days I finally have the internet in my room..."yea" I hear you scream. I was sick of using "default"'s or "waffles"' unprotected wireless giving me one bar to work with...it took me so long to upload them photos of Vancouver and Jasper in my last entrée...you best of loved them all!!!!

So I ended up in Edmonton yesterday. Didn't realise we were going up for a whole day of shopping (I mean, I knew that we were going up to the West Edmonton Mall (which was once the biggest in the world, think it's only the second or third now (depending on who you speak to)) but I wasn't expecting a whole day of it). So it was kind of an expensive nothing day, but I did get to eat a KFC Double Down, which was just expensive, high in calories, and not the greatest tasting thing in the world, but the worst part of it all was that I was still hungry after eating it.

I was gonna go snowboarding today, but I was told that it's just icy up there at the moment, so I decided to drink last night instead. If I had my season pass I would've gone up there regardless, but I aint gonna get that till I know whether I'm staying here for the season or not. It's meant to snow again tonight, but yea, I have work tomorrow....three days though till another weekend.

But Jane, you'll be pleased to hear that I finally saw some elk.....very very close too. They pretty tame here though. Just saw them out-and-about on my walk home on Tuesday night. My flash was being crap on my phone's camera though, so I have no pictures of them.

Work's going OK, I just aint got the salesmanship in me, which means I kinda suck. Our stuff is expensive, and I can't tell people to buy stuff like that. Plus I dunno if I like being so far away from everything, with little means to get anywhere else without paying a ton of cash. People here and nice and friendly, but it seems like everyone's in a click...dunno if I like feeling like that either. Plus it's certain things go on on certain nights in set venues meaning all the same people are in the same places each night, it's do that or do nothing. Word gets around quick, like everyone knows who's doing who, plus all the dramas makes it like a soap, it bores me cos it's all so unnecessary and regular. Kinda still missing Providence (for obvious and not so obvious reasons (but the main reason is such a complete lost cause)), which kinda makes me wanna head back to Vancouver and see if I can get work there that I actually wanna do. Plus I'd still be close enough to Whistler to head up to the mountains on my days of. I dunno, but I don't think that I can handle 4 months of this. Kinda feel my whole reasons for wanting to travel have been lost.

Anyway, check out my current walk home from work: OK, it's not uploading...I'll publish this now, and try it add my video later.

Vancouver and onto Jasper

So on Saturday afternoon I said “goodbye” to America, and “hello” to Canada. Leaving Seattle it took about 2 hours to reach the border…which was a lot easier in customs than coming into America (and friendlier)…there was no scanning of our stuff, just a sniffer dog…seriously! Then getting my work permit granted took about 20 minutes (if that). Then after that it took about another 2 hours to get to Vancouver.

Upon arriving, I didn’t have any Canadian money, which I didn’t think would be a problem…..oh how wrong I was….I couldn’t get any money out any at first, so with all my stuff I started to walk to my hostel…yeah, didn’t take me too long to give and just jump on the skyline (Vancouver’s equivalent to the London Underground…but in the air (less grim)).

Weekend consisted of fair amount of drinking and hanging out with a lot of Australian’s. I couldn’t tell you all the bars I hit, cos if I’m being honest I didn’t really care about their names. But it was a productive weekend too, I got my Social Security Number sorted on Monday. Met some pretty sweet people though, Kathrine, my new Irish friend who is heading to Jasper in a few weeks. Jenna and Dana (good luck with your new sofa Dana), two of the very few Canadians I met in Vancouver (seriously everyone there was Australian, including all my roommates) and Karl, an Australian who must’ve had a pretty sweet night on Sunday, waking up in Vancouver on Monday morning, with a whole set of new clothes….good going! Also bumped into my friend, Tom’s roommate, Stu from Cardiff for a couple of hours before he headed off to Whistler. Glad to get away though, Vancouver was fun, but I rinsed through my money!

Vancouver at 7:30 in the morning...I stayed awake for breakfast...which was just toast! Great

The view from my room

Stanley Park

The top bunk was mine, I got about 5 hours use out of it!!!

Poutine (not Putang (and knew I'd say it wrong, and yes  Putang means the same in Canada as it does in England)

I left Vancouver on Monday night and travelled overnight to Jasper (which is in Alberta but right on the British Columbia / Alberta Province border). I’m pretty sure I slept most the way, and ironically I dreamt that I was on a bus! But with each rest stop, the snow kept getting thicker!!!

I arrived in a very early, very closed and very cold Jasper on Tuesday morning deciding to head straight to the Jasper Park Lodge to sort out my dorm and offload all my gear (I still have waaaaaaaaaaay too much stuff). And how sweet is this, I have my own room until…dunno when. My view is pretty sweet too. Don’t think too much of the kitchen (and lack of utensils) so it might be a while before I try working on my cooking again, which does suck. Although I did manage to get a frying pan (yes, a frying pan from the “free bin” today. Met up with my management and it looks like I’ll be starting work a little latter due to the Store not being ready yet. But only a day later. Still waiting for them to turn my internet on in my dorm, I’ve been using “default” but the signal is soooooo weak!

Had a night out last night in Grizzly’s Cafe, $2.75 for Alberta’s local beer! Too Right. Finally actually hanging out with some Canadians (all from the East though, aint met no one from the West (as in, where I am)). Everyone seems well friendly. Apparently block A (where I’m living) is meant to be the party block….sweeta! And my gym is cheap and VERY close too (I can see it from my room).

Need to check out the mountain situation though. The runs are open, but I think we’re gonna need (and, more than likely, get) a bit more snow…bring on the cold. Which sucks cos I hear that the snow is pretty thick right now back home……and you’ve all got the day off work, I start working tomorrow! Least I've got the mountains, and stuff discount to get to them!

My new "bare"  room

And the view from my window

My new store inside the Fairmont, not quite finished...but it should be now. We're moving stuff in tomorrow and opening on Friday.

….And to top it off, they have Root Beer here too! No, scratch that….They have FREE Root Beer here, so long teeth! In fact all food’s cheap (and healthy) in the staff canteen! Also the "White Man" at road crossings lies here too!

Again, I aint gonna check this one over cos it's late, plus I HAVE to get up in the morning...first time in a long while!

Happy Thanksgiving and goodbye to America

That’s it…I’m sick of packing….I don’t care how crap or amazing Jasper is, once I’m unpacked I’m staying there. Least next time I unpack my snowboard it’ll be cos I’m actually gonna use it. It was so knackering, yet again. I thought I got rid of a load of stuff, but apparently I didn’t get rid of enough…think I’ll be leaving some stuff in Canada in April. - Least I wasn't drunk when I was packing this time. I couldn't fit all my stuff in my big backpack STILL, so I'm gonna try my English charm and ignorance with greyhound tomorrow "oh, really, I didn't know that I could only have one luggage in the storage"...yeah we'll see how that one goes!

So this is my last night in the USA. Tomorrow I will be heading North of the boarder to Canada, first stop…Vancouver. I decided to take my job in Jasper working for Fairmont, so accommodation is sorted from Tuesday night onwards. And I’ll be working again, as of Wednesday first time in exactly 3 months. I’ll have a weekend in Vancouver, staying at Samesun. Making the most of Vancouver for a weekend, and getting my Canadian Social Security Number, before travelling overnight (via Greyhound) on Monday arriving at Jasper nice and early on Tuesday morning.

So I experienced my first (and quite likely last) Thanksgiving on Thursday. Twas great, kinda like Crimbo minus the presents (no complaints from me). I probably ate too much, but Jane and Mariah did an awesome job with the food…how can you blame me! Sweet Potato (weggies…na) covered in marshmallows, twas all different (except the turkey…even the brussel sprouts taste different over here (although they still taste mighty fine (and on that note, I’d also like to add that chocolate Nesquick also taste different over here..don’t even know how that’s possible))).

These are also pictures of Duvall in the snow on Tuesday……we all had the day off school….yyyeeeaaaaaaa!!!!

Cos I aint shown it yet, but this is Jane and Steve's "crib"

Thrive let me still use the gym this week, even though my membership expired last week. Apart from that I’ve pretty much been planning Canada stuff, I’ve booked my flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong for Sunday 3rd April 2011, and I actually have my letter of approval to hand over to the Canadian officials tomorrow. Got myself some shirts, ready to start working again (fortunately I brought trousers, shirt and tie over with me for a wedding (which I never attended), unfortunately I gave the shoes to Ryan and Katie to take home with them). I’ve also been trying to clear my netbook, I was worried that I might have (very stupidly) got a key logger on my netbook, but I think that I’m OK.

I also finally convinced Jane to let me take here and Steve out for a meal tonight, nothing too big, but we had a Clam Jumper, awesome food, some of the dessert portions are huge. We also learnt, that whilst Steve may be “Hot Stuff” and I’m “Naughty, but Nice”, Jane can be a bit “Clammy”…”Mild” at best! Dunno if I completely agree!?

More big American stuff!!!

I also think I may have got Jane into Peep Show...now don't tell me that's not worth staying up till 3 in tne morning for!

Overall my time in America has been pretty crazy and not at all as planned, due to situations I’m not even here for the 90 days that you get without a visa (all that effort) in fact Saturday is Day 79…although I did get to see a whole lot more of America than planned. I’d have rather stayed in Rhode Island for the 6 months, but I can’t pass up on the opportunities and as a result I’m getting to go to Canada for four months. It’s just amazing how one person can change so much, I’ve never been let down so much and so quickly by one person. That’s the last time I hype someone and my situation up so much....Thanks for that. I wish I could just say “screw it” and move on, least crossing into Canada tomorrow for a season of snow should help. That first “Thanks” was obviously sarcastic, but these are genuine: Big Thank you to Mum, Dad and Stinks for all your help back home with my application, including G-Man for the awesome reference, there’s no way I could’ve done any of this without you (and it sucks that I won’t be seeing you next week Stinks). Also thanks to James and Gary, I dunno if anyone did phone you from Canada but thanks for letting me put your names down. Thanks to Danny G, David, Ed (The Church boys) for the awesome gifts (they really did crack me up) and Daz for actually “having the balls” and taking the time to ask about me Thanks to Eva for being an awesome roommate in RI (sorry about the unnecessary mess). Thanks to Ryan for finally giving me an awesome friend (physically with me) to vent to after about 6 weeks. Thanks to my big bruv Russ and Anessa for always being there. Thanks to Winston for your random but true words, I aint “there” yet, but I’ll get there. And thanks to Keri and James for wanting to get me out of Duvall (you know I don’t really dislike America or the stars and stripes, you crazy drunk fool). Thanks to Katie for being awesome over the last few weeks and sorting all this out (I don’t really blame you or Ryan for all this, you’ve been more than amazing). And a big thank you to Jane, Steve, Eric, Emma, Mo, Rob, and yes, even you Mariah, for being awesome hosts over the last SIX weeks, I couldn’t have asked to have been with better people. Thanks also to Mark and Dylan for the spontaneous and cheap road trip so I actually got to see California and the sun (all the best with the move back down there Mark). Sorry to Andy, you didn’t catch me at the best of times, I’m glad I met you though, just wish it was under different circumstances - if you’re ever in England (and I’m there) I’ll take you out with the boys for a “proper piss up”. And a big sorry to everyone in Florida and a certain person in Michigan, I would’ve love to have seen you all but money really was the only reason and nothing personal - after speaking with Tyler and Rob on Tuesday evening I miss you ALL even more, and hopefully we can sort something for the next few months in Canada. I also wanna apologise to G-Man, James and Tom, as the first time I speak to you in months is to ask for help, but hope you’re all well. It’s well nice to know that over both sides of the Atlantic I know some amazing people, if I don’t already miss you then I soon will. So long America, I’ll miss you and I dunno when we’ll meet again. But with all that’s gone on (and although this might not make perfect sense) it really makes me feel more unsure of when I’ll go home.

And finally, I hope My Little Stavie Stav, Lee has an awesome birthday weekend (in Southampton, not Portsmouth). Sorry I can’t make it.

(Them two paragraphs above were originally written for facebook, but due to me making this “PG friendly” I’ve toned down on my “French”, it’s like a Eminem radio edit – “Dear Slim, you still aint called or wrote, I hope you have a chance, I aint mad I just think it’s ‘messed’ up you don’t answer fans”). Plus I can't put it all on my status as you can only have 6 tags, not 21, and you can only have 420 characters, not 3000+.

American things I’m gonna miss include:

• Root Beer.
• BASEBALL (I know it’s been over for ages now, San Francisco Giants won the “World” Series at the beginning of the month) – can’t believe I got sucked into the sport.
• Big, if not HUGE everything!
• Clam
• Pumpkin
• I’ve missed Dunkin’ Donuts for weeks now.
• The awesome awesome awesome people, I’ve been over here six times now, and very few Americans have that “plastic friendliness” well least the Americans I know, they’re all beautiful people (well….most of them). I have some great friends all over this mass country. And I'm not sucking up, I'm leaving in about 12 hours, I can say what I want!
• I will always miss comments like “Can you teach me some English”…..I don’t care how drunk you are!
• …..OK, and the Duvall Tavern…….!? Maybe!? Although I did miss out on “Ladies night”...Dam Girl!
• Vanilla Coke, they still have it over here!

American things I don’t think I’ll ever miss:

• The American “British” accent – trust me, you don’t sound like anyone I know…don’t do it!
• The white man who says that I can cross the road! You’ve nearly killed me on numerous occasions, you liar!
• “Do you have …… in England!?”
• Peanut in pretty much all “candy”
• Dragged out American adverts (commercials)…and the health warnings.
• Talking about the queen…..look we only hooked up once, and I don’t wanna talk about her!

And things Americans miss:

• u
• Where the language came from...I aint the one with the accent!
• It's called "mobile" phone for a reason, what does "cell" or "cellular" even mean!

I'm sure all lists could/should be longer. I never did have a peanut butter “jelly” sandwich…good for me!

I also dunno how long it’ll be till I have the internet again …so we’ll speak whenever readers!!!

Jane, also sent me this this week, this is Duvall:

Jane’s Mom’s in this video too!

As I know that The Church boys have got their returned gifts, I can show you what I sent back to them:

They even ate them popcorn Jelly Beans...

I also got them some 'make your own animal balloons', and this is what they do with them!:

...And they did take it out into town with them!

And another “finally” to people in England, I hear that you’re getting an extra bank holiday making it 9 in 2011 cos Harry decided that Kate’s the one for him, and we’re ALL so happy for you. But I can top that, my Bank/public holidays in the last year:

1. Christmas Day – Ringwood, England.
2. Boxing Day – Somewhere in Florida.
3. New Years Day – Florida
4. Good Friday – Gulf of Mexico, just off Florida
5. Easter Monday – Over the Atlantic and back home
6. May Day – Chilling in Hedge End
7. Spring Bank Holiday – Studying in Hedge End
8. Summer Bank Holiday – Recovering from Reading Festival
9. Columbus Day – Getting pretty wasted in the Hot Club, Providence
10. Memorial Day (it’s a “public” holiday here) – BBQing in the California sun
11. Thanksgiving – Awesome grub in Duvall.
12. Black Friday (is to Thanksgiving what Boxing Day is to Christmas) – Enjoying my last full day in the States.

Looks like it’s gonna be Christmas, Boxing Day (cos they have it there) and New Year’s in Oh Canada!

Couldn't agree any more!

I can't really be bothered to check back over this one too much so......Now I’m done!

Only in America 2 (I said there'd be more)

So it's been 10 weeks and 1 day since I left England (that's 71 whoooooole days) and it looks like my time in the States is coming to an end, much earlier than originally planned (it's amazing how much just ONE person can make a difference in your life...and then not really give a flying _____). So I could be heading up to Vancouver on Thursday (the Vancouver north of here in British Columbia, Canada, not south of here in Washington, USA). My work permit/visa was approved yesterday by the Canadian embassy, my leaving date just depends whether I wanna take this job in Jasper or wait to see if better things come up in Whistler or Vancouver. If I'm being honest, I'm pretty nervous about crossing the boarding, in fact I don't think I've been this nervous since I flew from Huston to Orlando by myself last April, and that turned out pretty sweet (and in theory that was the Start of the story which has got me in my current situation). I am starting to prepare myself for the Canada cold though, I headed into Seattle today and bought myself a proper thick fleece (thank you for the $$$$ Stinko). I'm not missing England yet, but I am missing my people (not the people) and I am missing New England. It really does feel like America is no longer a foreign country, although I did finally have a 3 muskertiers chocolate today (twas AMAZING), and they'll always be a few things about this place that'll always amaze/baffle me:

Everybody knows it costs a buck 'o five

What about the rest of us...!?...

Nothing crazy about them really, I just love American cereal

Sixty-four Oz (Yes, 6 4 OUNCES)...yes it does need to be this big

8 fingers

DO NOT TRUST THIS WHITE MAN...

...it really means....

...nothing to them!

This isn't new (in fact I saw it on Day 2 of my travels, and that was still behind the times), I just thought it was funny, watch this one first...

...then watch this one….so dumb, so dumb, so dumb, so

Can't believe he actually did this

And finally, I'm already sick of Christmas...it aint even December yet!!!

No more Christmas songs please!