It's been a good couple of weeks now and I'm settled and have formed a sense of attachment to Calgary already. I'm starting to speak like I know this place...I've recommended a pub in Kensington, I've walked down 17th, I understand the numbering of buildings, Avenues and Streets, I can look into a bus or train and say to myself: 'ooohh, that's right near...' and so on.
So yeah, all is well. I really like Calgary and am loving the uni here as well. However, there are some glitches with the housing set-up. It's pretty much the only real interesting thing I have to talk about, and it's not entirely travel related, so bare with me on this one. Turns out Canadians aren't so waste/energy/water conscious as we are back home...or at the very least, as I am. So far I've experienced my house mates:
- Washing an entire set of dishes with a running tap instead of filling up the sink.
- Procuring several handfuls of plastic knives and forks and using those as one use cutlery.
- Leaving every light, appliance, entertainment device, etc turned on regardless of what they're doing...TV runs while everyone's gone to bed whilst the entire house is lit up with no one home.
I once read an article by Jay Pinkerton that suggested the best way to teach your family to save energy was to gradually reduce the wattage of all the overhead lights in the household until eventually all that's left is exposed wire...thus, when they go to change the lightbulb in the dark, they learn their true lesson.
I'm starting to think that maybe it's not entirely a stupid idea.
I can grin and bare it though, they cooked antelope today...it's...well...it's very, very good. I want more. So, I suppose not much has really happened. I mean, we've played squash, had a huge shindig where we made pizza with Nikki's housemates, experienced Canada...and so on...but thus far it's just the making of plans to come.
As for those plans...we're going up to the Rockies this weekend for a couple of nights, to a place just before Banff called Canmore. Supposed to be really nice and will have some moose and deer hanging around, so that will be pretty swell. I'm also considering jumping on a plane, skipping a lecture and flying to Montreal in October to see Broken Social Scene and hang around the city for a few nights...but it's costly and completely flies in the face of the budget I wrote up in Excel...however, I reckon I can scam my way into going my convincing myself I've found a budget loophole by changing some values in the spreadsheet...so it's promising.
I've also decided that my last few goodbyes have been lacking in macho...so I'll rectify this. See you next time.
Punchtough,
Max
