Heya Kiddies,
My first month in Canada and what a crazy time it has been. It was a marathon flight to get here via Taipei and with a belly still reeling from too much Singh Beer and dodgy roadside vendor Pad Thai! Luckily my exchange partner Wendy had arranged for Bas (her landlord) to come and pick me up from the airport. We clicked straight away, awesome guy and a typical Irishman......loves a drink!
Wendy's house is awesome, plenty of room, a dishwasher and better still she left me her ski gear! Bas has taken me up to Cypress Mountain and given me a few pointers, but I spent most of the first two sessions on my ass. Lucky for me the school does regular ski trips up to Whistler (little Australia) and I ended up doing a lesson with a very cute Argentinian ski instructor. I am getting better and hopefully with another couple of lessons coming up, I will soon be on my way.
School has been full on, but great. The kids are soooooo different from back home which is a challenge. No uniforms, Ipods and cells (mobiles) in class and some different ideas about classroom behaviour, but they have been mostly OK. Teaching Dance has been a bit different, most of you know I can't dance to save myself, so very soon a whole class of Canadian kids will have the same problem! It's a laugh, as is helping out the Dragon Boating team, they even let me steer last week which almost ended in tears! The Fraser River is a great scenic spot to learn though. The school staff have all been awesome and have taken me out a couple of times which has helped me to settle in, especially Trevor and Natalie who have gotten me drunk a couple of times (like I need an excuse!!). I also got signed up for the Staff Olympics, a series of events where the teachers compete against each other during lunchtimes. The final event was a lip sync contest where I had to get on stage with three other teachers in front of 500 kids and do a dodgy dance to 'These Boots Are Made For Walking'. It was hilarious and the footage has even been put on You Tube!! My team actually won overall, must have been the Aussie influence haha!
Spring break is not far off, going to the Carribbean for the Cricket World Cup. Off to Seattle in the next few weeks for a weekend, should be cool and I might even take a trip to Vegas for Easter. Have been out a few times on the tiles, Vancouver is an awesome city with heaps to do. I did get lost though in my first week and ended up going along the most dodgy street I have ever seen, Hastings Street. Junkies and crack whores everywhere! I crossed the road six times in 10 minutes to avoid suspect people! Thought the rest of the city really is picture postcard perfect.
Hope you're all crusing, wherever you are.
Keep smiling, Ben.
