Room 204

I have been in Lake Louise for 2 weeks now and I have started getting use to my accomodation - well sort of. My lounge is in a constant disarray with a combination of empty beer cans, milk cartons and dirty dishes. There is weed lying around in zip lock bags and a funny range of implements to smoke them with. I'm starting to sit in the living room sometimes now (usually before it gets smoked out), but only on the one chair we have.. parking my ass on the lounge is something I have not courage for just yet. My fridge has a rusty pool of water at the bottom and food for 7 people is literally shoved into it... my flatmates have no concept of stacking. The sink as expected is always full of dishes. I own one set of cutlery and one bowel and only dare to use 2 of the saucepans, the microwave and the toaster. There is two bathrooms and it so happens that the girla use one and the guys the other. Both pretty grotty, th guys one is 100x times worse... even the dodgiest hostels I stayed in Europe is no comparison. I have only been in it twice (one in each of the 2 crisis.. read on!). It hasn't been cleaned in years, walls are covered with graphic pictures from Playboy, and there is a clipping over the toilet that reads "Local Horny Chicks only 69c a minute!" followed by a toll free number.

The girls bathroom is a lot less interesting, a lot more liveable, but I would never be comfortable in it. It has also staged a lot of dramas in the last week too...

Drama No. 1

I get home from the staff X'mas partee (the one where food ran out and I nearly died in the cold)... my bathroom door is locked, water is running, and snoring sounds seep through. Ends up that Vicki who does not live with us but is a frequent "guest" of one of my flatmates has passed out drunk in there whilst a bunch of drunken boys are pissing themselves in the living room. Naturally I am worried thjat someone has passed out and water is running, and tried banging on the door with no repsonse. In the end I went to bed reassured that she was ok by the loud snoring that floated into my room effortlessly.

I wake up in the morning, releived that the bathroom door is unlocked and that I didn't have to use the boys bathroom. The relief sorta died when I realised there was vomit and some suspicious brown substance all over my bathroom. I swore if I came home from work and it was still there I would wring someone's neck. Maybe it was a good thing that no one was home when I got there coz there would have been a fatality. They crap was still there and some idiot decided that cleaning was not good and put some incence in the toilet instead.. the red kind that us chinese people use for people who have passed away. Nice.

That was why I was so upset on X'mas eve!! But after a 2 hour nap it was a good, Vicki was back to clean up and I was happy again!

Drama No. 2

I'm rushing to leave for work and the stupid toilet won't flush. Thank god that after three goes, it was fine and I was not late for my bus. I come home, Gino my flatmate tells me me soemthing terrible has happened - he leads me to the bathroom and points to the toilet which someone obviously tried in vain to empty their bowels in, only to find that the crap (literally) rose to the rim instead of disappearing down the hole. My bright flatmate was waiting for someone to come home rather than call housing. So I called housing, and they said that they could send someone tomorrow which was not my preferred answer, but doable since it was not over flowing.

So I had to use the boys bathroom for the second and very last time. I left a bunch of drunken boys in the living room while I went to dinner at a friends (my mistake)... I came home to find my carpeted hallway soaked in shit and water (literally).... the friends downstairs had brown water dripping through their ceiling. My flatmate the smart cookie, and his friends wanted to fix it which was quite sweet, but the plan backfired. And ofcourse someone has the dead people worshipping incence burning again to relieve the stench *sigh*

So this is my apartment. I share with 6 other people.. all smokers! There is Sumi, a really sweet girl from Japan - nurse turned cook. I like her the best. And then there is Barbara, a a waitress.. nice girl, cleans the house all the time.. as well as always having one issue or another and stresses out all the time over every bloody thing. I think there is one guy called Blake whom I ahve only met a few times as he is a cab driver who works 4pm - 4am. Then there is Benoit and Gino... both french guys from Quebec, both chefs, slobs, pot-heads.. but besides that, nice enough when they have a clear head. Gino's girlfriend is Vicki - the lovely girl who vomitted all over my bathroom. Gino also shares a bedroom with Jamie, my last flatmate which I really like. He's Canadian, also a slob, but forgivable since I really admire the fact that he can work 3 jobs and only averages 2 hours sleep a night. I also feel sorry for him that when he does get his 2 hours sleep, he has to put up with sharing a room with Gino and his girlfriend when she is not in her own apartment or locked up in my bathroom. I can vouch that she is a terrible snorer too.

So there has it, Room 204.. otherwise known as the worse and dirtiest apartment in Chucktown (formerly known as Charlestown).

A White Christmas

My X'mas started on the 23rd December. Work was putting on an X'mas dinner - "Turkey with all the trimmings". So naturally, a bunch of underpaid, underfed backpackers was excited at the prospect of a good feed. Rule No. 1 - excitement never pays off. Only 1 out of 3 buses came to pick up the staff at night, and the rest was in the freezing cold for an hour... -10 degrees in minimal clothing (go the partee clothes!) is no joke! I was skeptical as to whether my toes were still there in the end! When they finally realised most the staff was not there, they sent a shuttle out for us. Rule No. 2 - premature reloef doesn't pay off either. We got there starving, and all the "trimmings" were gone, and we were just left with cold turkey and stuffing. By the time we finished that, all the desserts were gone too. Trust me, never rely on free food, and Canadian beer really sux!

X'mas eve was not too great to begin with either. I had a 1.5 hour lunch / ride break at work, so I scoffed down my lunch and went up a slope that usually takes me 1/2 hour to get down coz I'm so crap. o what happens, I stack it on nmy tail bone, which most of you know is my specialty. The beaty of it was that I stacked it at the top and had to board back down to work in a lot of pain. Climbing up and down with rental boots didn't help either and by the time I got home the last thing I needed was vomit all over my bathroom! (see next entry). I couldn't handle it anymore, and just went to bed at 6pm.

Anyways, it goes to show that when life sux, sleep it off. When I woke up I was greeted with a card and a package from Rachel and Ben in Vancouver. They were so sweet.. sent me lots of lovely things to cheer me!! I think they were worried coz the last time I called, my room blacked out and I was sitting in the dark. Hmm..

Being X'mas eve, I called the locals and called home.. I hate missing those family gathering with way too much food!!! Canned soup for dinner offered little consolation too!

It was only until I opened my presents that I felt the spirit of X'mas. Asa bought me a much need pamper pack, and also brought over a box which I thought was the one present from my beloved friends back home (you know who you guys are!!)!! Anyways, thanks to you guys, I didn't go to bed till late as I went through all the items in the box. Each item felt like a new present, and so many presents made me feel loved. I was really touched by a leather journal - all the messages made me homesick. I was in the room by myself, laughing at all the quirky characters I called friends back home. Photos brought back so many memories of past trips and events, although some I really doidn't want to remember!!

All in all, what started as a shitty X'mas (beats the Melb roadtrip where we were stuck in the bushfires) ended up being a pretty good one. Despite working all day, we made it heaps of fun and a bunch of us headed to the local Inn for a buffet X'mas Feast. In the tradition of poor backpackers, we stuiffed ourselves silly after spending 10 hours of wages in a dinner! Actually, now that I think of it, X'mas ended up with me very sick and overfed!!

And your shoe size is...

If my last entry alarmed, you rest assured, I am now quite used to the fact that I have bongs lying around the house, people knocking asking for pot and the load music at all times of the night and early morning is getting to be a normal too.

I went out on the slops at leat 4 times last week and I'm slowly improving. I still don't look cool though, but I'm working on it. The other day we went to the top of the mountain (I nearlly killed my friend when he left me there)... but yeah, it was 2 runs combined into one and the bottom one was 8kms, so I am thinking I did at least 12 kms down.. it took me about 40 mins and a hell of a lot of leg work!!!

Rentals is getting crazy though. I have to say, fitting people with boots and putting away smelly, steamy ones at the end of the day sure is different to bumming on the beach or bludging at client site. Apparently it will be worse in the next two weeks, so I am looking forward to 7:50am starts and no lunch breaks!!

Work people have been cool, although there is still a bit of a culture shock. A group of us went on a small trek to the famous Lake Louise which was nice... a walk through powdered snow was def different to our treks back home.

And Ada, a friend from Australia just arrive, so we took a tour up to Johnson's Canyon, which has all these frozen waterfalls which was all very cool (sorry about the pun!).

Anyways, I have uploaded some more photos (link on the right). Check out the first picture. One morning it was even nicer than that, but I didn't ahve my camera on me. The sky was pink as, and when I was in training, I saw the sun rise over the mountains.. it's not often I am awake to see the sunrise. But the best was when we got off work after sundown, and the sky was a bright blue with strips of pink clouds strewn threw it. That was when I thought that maybe it was a good thing I made it all the way out here. Just seeing the surroundings makes it all worth it.

An Orientation to Lake Louise

Let's just say that Lake Louise is damn far from Vancouver when catching a bus. After about 14 hours on a bus, I finally got here.. yah! Had problems finding my place and realised how shocking the HR here was.. when finally I did, the Housing people at my employee accomodation greeted my with
"Andrea... we have a room for you. You're not going to like it though."
"Why not"
"Ahh.. we have complaints about it. It's the messiest room in the building, in the worse apartment.. and everyone smokes pot"
"Hmm... excellent... can I change."
"Sure, but we have a huge waiting list, so good luck."

So here I am distressed.. and everyone is staring at me already coz I have at least 60kgs worth of luggage with me.. I had to break out the expansion panel on my suitace which means I was nearly in tears dragging the damn thing up the stairs to my room." It's not like I have anything against people smoking all sorts of substances, I've grown up with a lot of friends that have... but to open the front door to my new living room for the next 5 months and greet 8 extremely stoned people in a totally smoked out zone (I could barely look through it to examine the kitchen) and then have to drag all this lugguge (which nearly had me in tears 5 mins ago) through floorspace that didn't exist due to the bodies and the beer cans lying around... it didn't really make my day.

My room was a mess, I don't think it has been vacuumed in the last 10 years with cigarette butts everywhere... my window will always slightly ajar as it doesn't sit in the frame properly. But at least I have my own room, a bed and clean linen. I will do my best to clean the floor and make room for my guests that promised to come!!

The next morning was a beauty. They are so disorganised here I didn't have my schedule, and I was extremely lucky to have found brownish-green pants in my bloody lugguge which was a required item but no-one bothered to tell me in advance. Anyways, I wanted to rock up to work at 8am, having to catch a shuttle up to the slopes and woke up in order to catch the 7:50am shuttle. Thats all an well until you realise that Lake Louise is one hour ahead of Vancouver, and I had about 4 mins to sprint down the village (which I have no idea what it looks like in broad daylight) on order to catch a bus to work that will get me there an hour late as opposed to 2 hours .. and seriously, I was ready to cry right then and there since I was having such a shit time!

But it's all cool now, I found my bus, got to work on time as we ended up starting at 9am, and the people are really cool in rentals.. a lot more alert than my flatmates. I think we have the coolest job and the coolest team on the slopes which is good. We're all there to have fun and we bludge quite a bit. We also have 2 hour ski breaks and can take out as much gear as we want for free which is pretty cool. Last night, everyone went out to the local bar and got totally smashed. Welcome to the world of ski resort work. I was pretty tired and quite sick, so went to check out the scene and met some people before heading home to crash.

As for my flatmates, they're ok now.. I've met all of them now I think, even though I still don't know names... there's 3 girls and 4 guys... but I get confused as we always have visitors. but anyways, they are pretty nice when they're not totally out of it and I chat to them here and there. Still can't see myself being best buddies with them which is a shame since all my other colleagues have really cool people that they get along with and hang out with. One of the girls couldn't stand the mess and cleaned up, I'm still a bit hesitant about parking my ass on the lounge, but at least I can see the floor now. The kicthen is a shocker, but I have a feeling I will be losing a lot of weight here. Grocery costs an arm and a leg and all they have is packaged junk. I miss Trang and our gourmet meals back in Vancouver! =(

Anyways, I no longer entertain the thought of quitting (since I do not want to move my luggage anymore)... I have some cool workmates, I tested the snow yesterday and was very happy with it, and I have a friend visiting over X'mas! Yeah!!! I also have another Aussie friend working in Banhff which is only an hour away, so that will be cool!!

Anyways, internet also costs a lot, so sorry if I don't reply emails promptly (I still exoect them though!!). I'll update you guys on Lake Louise and the surrounding when I've done a few more hours at work and can afford internet again! =P

Another Phase

It happens everytime, you have nothing to do for weeks, then just as you give up and decide to move on, everything comes tumbling in! I spent most of my week working for once, and let's just say that Temping is no fun! I will make sure that when I get to Toronto, I will work my ass off to find proper work, none of this data-entry, filling crap no more!!

The last few weeks has been good. Now that I'm leaving Vancouver, I have started getting used to the place and even the weather doesn't bother me anymore. Last week I celebrated my birthday... the birthday which I thought I'd be by myself for... but I had friends! *beam*

Trang cooked me a huge gormet lunch, we got haircuts, and met up with Ben, Rachel and three other Aussie friends for drinks at a really nice cocktail bar. We then went to a Mexican Party... it was a bit dissapointing at first, since we rocked up to this huge hall with grandmas, grandpas and kids dancing away in a huge empty hall. But the as the night went on, the crowd grew (bigger and younger) and we made it all a bit fun by wrestling kids for lollies, trying out very bad salsa moves and bopping to retro (once in a long while is quite fun!). So yes, my birthday was surprisingly a very good one!!

This week I have been out an about with work and last minute admin stuff in Vancouver, but I also stayed with Ben and Rachel for a few days in their very swish apartment which was really fun. Had a night out with plenty of drinks, good old pool and even a little bit of a tiff with some local Canadians who called us "stupid crazy australians"! Who, us???

Anyways, heading out for my farewell dinner now with all my new found friends before I head off to Lake Louise tomorrow morning bright an early.

I will try to make future entries a bit more interesting and lively when I am less tired!!

An Unwanted Sunny Day

The idea with Tofino (coastal town on the west cost of Vancouver Island, 6 hours bus ride from Victoria) was to go storm watching - apparently magnificent storms coming in from the Pacific Ocean is meant to be a tourist attraction there. I have never heard of such a thing so wanted to check it out. Lucky me (grr), the weather god must have heard my distress over the shitty weather in Vancouver, and gave me a perfectly sunny day in Tofino!

I was really dissapointed at first, Tofino may be a happening place in summer, but in winter... there isn't much to do except hike.. which you needed a car to get to the trails... or storm watch... which you need storms to watch!!!

I managed to kill some time sitting on the beach. The water emits a strong glare here, and it took me a while to realise that it is because it is the first time I have sat on a coast facing the west. This also meant that I saw a beautiful sun set on the horizon... something that I have always wanted to do! It was very, very pretty... maybe even equal the Tuscan sunset I saw earlier this year.

But the one thing that really made the trip worthwhile for me was the hostel. Whalers on the Point Guesthouse, is a HI Hostel and having lived in many hostels, I have rated this one the absolute best. Imagine waking up in the morning, with the view of Pacific Ocean at the end of your bed! The place is equipped with free pool tables, sauna, and plenty of lounges and fireplaces.. all with the amazing view of the Ocean. I came across all sorts of people here. I guess I'm pretty arrogant in thatI don't tend to care much for meeting people who you know just come in and out of my life, like travellers, per say. But my stay at this hostel really changed things.

A couple that only knew me for 20 mins invited me over to their house for Christmas and a place to stay whenever I'm in Calagry. Seeing as I was a total stranger to them I was really touched by their generosity... they must have thought anyone who can curl up and fal asleep on the couch is harmless. They were so sweet... Trang is right, it is surprising how far a little effort can sometimes go when it comes to meeting people.

I met some other interesting characters too as some of us hung around the fireplace with a guitar. Thats another thing, everyone acts as though they are travelling together, which is really nice.

Anyways, I met this english guy who use to be a project manager in London.. he quit job because he implemented a system which would in effect cost 120 of his colleagues their job in the next year.

And then there's this other guy who had stayed at the hostel for over 2 weeks. Doing nothing, had no purpose, didn't know when he was going to leave. Left his job as a software developer, is thinking of studying, but not really. Quite happy to hide away from all the realities in this nice guest house in the middle of nowhere. My guess is that he is in his late 20s. In a way, we're similar in that we realise we hate what we do and we are taking the risk to make a change. But I think I still have a goal in life, it may be a bit blurred at the moment (coz I want to do everything), but it's there somewhere. I really hope that I will never get to the stage where I am as lost as this guy... I also hope he would make a move from the guesthouse one of these days... and not because he's out of money.

All this makes me think about the careers most of us are in, and how sterile it all is. Having said that, I think I am still very career minded, ambitious and materialistic, thats the sad part!

Okaes, so I didn't get to go storm watching, but after only one night, leaving that hostel felt a bit like leaving home. On the other hand, it also felt good to be going "home" - which is Vancouver now. Anyhow, I never got contacts for the people I met there, I guess thats why people come in and out of my life!

A Break from a Break

First I wanted to get away from Sydney... and now after 3 weeks in Vancouver, I need another break. I felt miserable the other day during the heaviest rainfall since I've been here. What is worse than rain itself is getting lost when it is raining!

So Trang and I went on a weekend trip to Vancouver Island, about 1.5 hours ferry ride from Vancouver itself. After doing crazy hours on transport through Europe, I didn't think the few hours of bus and ferry would get to me. I guess in Europe, we didn't have a whiney asian teeny bopper couple sitting behind us talking whilst we were trying to sleep. Their conversation consisted of too many *whiney voice* "thats sooo cool..", "thats sooo awesome...". And talk about lover's quarrels... this is the chick during some stupid game they were playing... "I'm the win-some-est girl ever. I win at everything. I win at being a loser, I'm the losiest of the losers. I have to be first at everything.".... and the classic "Am I the cutest!?? I'm cuter than you, I'm cute!" *rolls eyes*

It was amusing at first, but in the end it took a great deal of self control not to turn around and yell "Look woman, you're the cutest, ok??... Now shut the f*** up!"

Anyways, that was the beginning of the trip. The rest of the trip was quite pleasant on relation. Victoria is known to be like Britain (Trang just informs me we are in Bristish Columbia for a reason.. *ding*). So it has pretty buildings, European style and sits on a harbour which meant really pretty pcitures at night. But apart from picture taking, the capital of BC is really small.. so after Trang left (I decided to stay the night myself), I went and saw a musical - "The Fiddler on the Roof". Although it was good, it was nowehere near as good as "Hello Dolly" which I saw in Vancouver - very witty, and extremely clever staging.