today is a happy day

sooo i have a job, and a trial tomorrow and an orientation tonight! woowoo! :) i am so flipping happy, the job i have been offered is for an icecream place, its just up the road from me but is only part time like 15-20 hrs a week. i had a trial there this morning, the girl was lovely, showed me how to scoop icecream correctly etc! coz aparently thats possible - i now know! got to serve customers etc so that was fun and she gave me my first paid shift for friday afternoon. I then had a job interview at a "burger shack" called vera's, its apparently amazing according to my friend grant! he described it as better than tonic and that is something! so yea, it went really well, its a family run business and the whole family have met/had a chat with me! they were soo nice and the daughter who is the manager seems really really nice, shes about 25ish i think too so thats cool. hopefully a new friend too! so yea, they had a chat and said to come in for a trial on friday, its for full time hours and so would be better than the icecream place, its also better pay too! they upped the average wage for me coz i have experience - whoopa! so yea, just hoping friday goes well there and il be sorted! :) i have an orientation thing tonight thats for flexible work in hotels/banquets etc so if thats successful and sounds good tonight, il be able to do it on the side if i need more money/there isnt many hours going in veras some night or something! so yea, after a pretty shakey start this week im feeling a lot better now! just hoping that everything works out and il be a happy lady! thanks for everyones support and encouragement the last wee while, its been great to get a wee "everything will be fine!" note!
but yea, apart from that i havent been at much, think ive had a pretty productive day today so far! canada day is on thursday, its a masssssive event here so well excited for that. il take lots of pictures and no doubt have a super exciting blog about it, so watch out! xxx

rain rain go away...

so they rain is on, an umbrella has been bought and the feet are wet. but the job hunt is underway. with frizzy hair and a damp smell ive been popping in and out of any kind of restaurant/bar i think looks semi decent. i had an interview for an ice cream place yesterday, but its only for 15-20 hrs a week which isnt much/enough to keep me alive so keeping looking. the problem seems to be that everyone has already hired summer staff or they want to know the place you have worked in before. ie. somewhere in vancouver! not the easiest thing when im from the other side of the world! but hey ho, just gonna get the brolly out and the smile on and continue my hunt this afternoon!

the weekend was pretty fun, theres a jazz festival on at the minute so been catching a few shows with that, my flatmate is a jazz singer so went to see her for a little bit yesterday before my interview. went out for brunch with my freind penni which was really tasty and in a really nice place - resume is going to be handed in there this afternoon! went over to kitsalino last night for a bit of a dander, its a beach just outside downtown, thankfully the sun came out then so it was lovely to just sit at the beach watching the world go by and getting the head cleared a little. had been a bit of a stressy day realising how i really need to get a job asap or il be home sooner than i think. but it will all be fine, just gotta keep smiling!

theres so many nice places to just go and sit and enjoy watching the world go buy, i think ive turned into a bit of a pensioner here, lots of people watching and discussing life etc. its rather amusing but still very fun! especially when the sun is shining and everyone is out and about! anyway thats all my news for now, il hopefully have some exciting news for you soon when i get myself a job! fingers crossed, until then, keep popping me little fb mails etc, they are much appreciated!
hugs
karen xxx

thank goodness im irish

hello again, i know its been a few days - i do apologise! but havent really been up to an awful lot the past couple of days. the sun has been out so the beach has been veyr tempting! its beautiful, its not too hot, but just a really nice temperature to be out about about/lying on the beach and not totally sweating! ive found a nice wee running route so been trying to do that a bit in the mornings. it amazing how many people go running here, and how everyone looks like its no bother to them at all. i must admit im rather jealous and probably dont look like such a pro running along puffing and panting, thank goodness for some lady gaga and rihanna to keep me going thats all im saying!
the job hunt is going a little bit annoyingly, waiting on hearing back from a few places so its a bit annoying but im gonna call back into a few places on monday and hopefully something will come up really soon! until then im kind of using this as my holiday as i know once work starts im gonna be gutted if i dont keep busy/enjoy the sun now! I had a rather funny experience when i went to hand in a cv to a place which is a bit of a walk away, by the time id got there i was probably looking rather hot and flushed. i think this was maybe pretty obvious as the girl offered me some water while i was filling in my application!
today i went for a wander in and around stanley park too which was really nice, its soo strange being there, it feels like im no where near a city, its really beautiful too! so yea, think there will be lots more adventures there!we then set up camp on the beach for the evening after going to the "liquor store" aka the offy, for some beer - its soooo expensive here this was a luxury but i reckoned friday night, i think i can treat myself to two. so i was all nicely settled on the beach, waiting for the sun to go down, one beer nearly finished when i felt that there was someone walking towards us, but behind us - a nice cop! uh ohhhh! so yea, aparently its pretty illegal to drink on the beach in vancouver and i should have got a $250 fine, thankfully the irish charm worked a treat and i played the innocent eyes and got away with it. i think he just loved the fact that i live near the giants causeway!! so yea, lets just say i think il save my other beer for inside from now on!
so yea, not too much else happening here really, think im meeting up with some canadians tomorrow - all i seem to have met is people from ireland, scotland and england so far, not that there is anything wrong with that of course!

hello sunshine

yesterday the sun came out - woohooo! it was a pretty lazy day all in all! i had a job interview in the morning which went pretty well so that was good! the guy pretty much wanted to work out if he can get me a better paid job - they are looking for hosts (the people that smile and look happy and cheery, say hello, "have a nice nice" etc at the front of the restaurant) but because i have quite a lot of experience in serving he wants to try and get me a service job as they get a lot better pay - can get $30/hr tips! AMAZING! so yea, he said he would speak to the supervisor i met with the day before and see what they can come up with. so waiting to hear back from them! im dying to just get something sorted now, would be a nice to just know what im doing etc but until then im gonna enjoy the sun while i can and wait to hear from other places!

after the interview i headed back home, had a bit of a chat with the family and then went to the beach. book out, sun out - sorted. then the tummy started rumbling to headed home for some food and went for a bit of a wander down around the lost lagoon - its a big lake in the middle of the park close by me.

it was really gorgeous, so many animals running about and just really peaceful and full of nature - and lots of runners!

i passed by the boat club and got rather jealous watching some scullers out, water was perfect and sun was shining and my eyes were green with envy! but it looked like fun all the same. headed back home and met up with grant and kerry. got some food and then went to watch the sun set at english bay - the beach 5 mins from my house. it had kind of gone down already but the atmosphere was really nice! lots of people about, lots of people eating icecream (we joined in on that one with a tasty marble slab) and lots of midgies but it was fun all around!

these feet weren't made for walking...

im pretty gutted i didnt invest in some hardcore clarkes comfy shoes before i came out here -sooo much walking. the public transport etc is great but i always chose to walk. purely as that way i get to see more or like yesterday i had to walk as i was handing out resumes (cv's) and so needed to be able to look around me and pop into places i liked the look of.

I got up bright and early and hit the streets about half 9ish. places like you to pop in at the less busy times so as i has quite a lot of ground to cover it was pretty good to get an early start. i had my map in hand and about 30 resumes with me and off i went. I started looking in the area around my house - the west end. there was a few places i had researched etc and so started with them - some places weren't hiring or had just taken on their summer staff. unfort as ive been waitressing for quite a while i think ive got a bit fussy as to where i want to work, but theres lots of nice places here so it wasnt too bad. filled in a few applications, one for a place called the cactus club, its pretty snazzy but all the girls look like they are about to go for a photo shoot or a glam night out - dont think i have what it takes to be a cactus club girl. but the girl there was lovely no less and got me to fill out an apllication and said someone would be in touch by the end of this week. restaurants here pretty much want you to nearly beg for a job, for instance u hand in your resume, cover letter and application, then your supposed to call in or phone back a few days later and ask what they thought etc and then if you get offered an interview send a thank you note after - all rather official for just a waitressing job, but hey ho. if it has to be done il do it!!

about 12 i was planning on finishing up with one last place so went in and the girl was lovely, she gave me an application form, got me a glass of water for while i was filling it in and other servers came over and chatted and said hello while i was filling it in. then the supervisor came over and spoke to me and had a bit of an interview, i got the feeling she liked the sound of me as she said she had to get me to meet the manager before she could actaully hire me - so thats my plan for today! so fingers crossed! :)

I didnt want to just give up then though incase that fell through or whatever, so came back, stocked up on some food and hit the streets again after lunch. I went to the granville street and yaletown area. granville is one of the main shopping streets and yaletown is the yuppie area - ie pretty good place for niceeeee tips! handed out a few more cv's - people said they would call back etc etc and then went into one final place called the keg. I had an interview there and then and the guy was really nice! he gave me a tour of the restaurant (it has 2 floors and a rooftop patio) He said they have a meeting on a monday about taking on staff and so it would be next week before he got back to me. so that may be another option - fingers crossed! it would be nice to have a choice but also veryyy lucky so just have to see what happens. tho then deciding which to go for could be a right old dilemma as both places seemed really nice - time will tell!

at about 4ish i met up with grant and kerry and went on a flat viewing with them. we wandered about a bit and found a seat by the water. we all had pretty sore feet by now so it was nice to get a sit down. we decided to take ourselves out for some food so off we trotted to the gastown area - its kind of the touristy bit of vancouver, but really nice and has lots of character. we went to a place called the spaghetti factory which was yummy. some nice comforting pasta and there was free starters, bread, icecream, tea and coffee! all for $12 :) fabulous in my opinion!

after a bit more walking around it was time to call it a night but a fun day was had!

interview today and my feet are still sore from yesterdays adventures, think the sun is going to come out today so a perfect excuse for the beach! :)

xxx

hung out with the hippies!

today i met up with two fellow dundonians that i met at the swap meeting on friday. we had previously decided to head to a street carnival that was happening on commercial drive. this is an end of vancouver that i hadnt visited before. after walking quite a distance and a bit of a round the world for a short cut i eventually met up with kerry and grant. we dandered across to commercial drive, about half an hour or so walk from where we met and found the street carnival. we didnt really know what to expect or how big it was going to be. commercial street in known to be the hippy end of vancouver and it certainly was! it was a car free day in vancouver so a few different streets had been closed off for the day - this was one of them! instead it was taken over with tonnes of stalls and live bands, acts, drummers, roller bladers, dancers, hula hoopers, everything! there was a lot of stalls for green peace things, eco freindly, places selling sofas for $75 etc!! a complete random mish mash of everything. it was amazing just walking up and down the street and watching people. it made me wonder what these people actually wear normally or if this is their norm!?

we walked up and down the street about two times - it was a rather lengthy street and constantly found new things to look at and entertain us! some of the bands and drummers were amazing. as brazil had won their football match there was a lot of people with flags etc dancing on the street along with the drummers. it was amazing to watch people just having such a brilliant time and completely going for it with the dancing! i have to admit as tempting as it was to join in, we resisted!

the favourite sight of the day had to be the roller skaters, there was an outdoor roller disco going on, there was even a human disco ball! (see pic) the people all dressed up in rather interesting attire - guys in shiny cycling shorts etc (i hang my head in shame as im pretty sure i had a pair very similar when i was about 6) but it was brilliant to watch no less. some of them were brilliant, others thought they were brilliant and others looked like they had never had a go before! but everyone mucked in and helped eachother up when they fell!

another bonus of the day was that we didnt have to buy lunch, lots of freebees took the place. eco freindly/"uber healthy" crisps, granola bars and "happy planet" radience shots saved us our pennies! tho kerry and i did invest in a hugeee ass slice of melon each! (see pic) it was a bit of a mission to get our mouths around them and to get to the centre of the huggee slices but it was super yummy and a bargin at a doller per slice - or so we thought, we later saw full water melons for 89cents - bargin!!!but it was still very yummy!

by the end of the walking about and people watching extravaganza we decided it was time to head home. sore feet and needing the loo badly made it a relief to get home but it was a brilliant day!

its brilliant how there always seems to be so much going on here, lots of people watching has been happening! there are sooo many cultures here, yet everyone is SO friendly. even today it just seemed like everyone knew eachother. its really cool to just be able to stand back and watch it all going on around me as well as getting involved! just incase your wondering, dont worry im not going to come back a hippy - as tempting as it was to get the roller skates on, a few dreadlocks put in and to buy a lifetime supply of 100% natural happy planet energy shots i dont think that will get me a job! (my mission for tomorrow - bring on some more sore feet and some more miles covered!!)

saturday 20th

the sun has come out here today - whopppaaa!! :) its been about 26degrees which is beauttt!!tho im maybe a little pink in places! today has been a fun one! went tothe dragon boat racing, its a biggg thing here once a year where hundreds of teams race eachother. dragon boats are like long wooden boats and theres 2 rows of people the whole way down, probs about 30 people in the boat in total! but everyone just rows like mighty, not like our style, like literally just plonking this wee short blade into the water. i think they are sitting on their knees in the boat - none of this lovely slidey seat luxury that we have! but yea it looks like lots of fun, there was also loads of stalls, jewellery etc there so that was fun to have a nosey around. my flatmates bf was playing in his jazz band on a big stage, there was quite a few different bands. by this point i had met up with some other bunac people - at last we managed to actually get together. so they joined me and we all sat on the grass and soaked up the sun! it was sooo nice to get to meet others too! so yea, its been a fun one!

had a rather amusing experience tho, i was just standing on my own watching the races and these 2 men and 2 kids came over beside me. they just started chatting straight away - vancouver is SOOO friendly. its really strange. so i was just chatting away back. then they were like ahh lets go see whats over there with all the tents (it was the stalls) so i plondered along to and was chatting away to one of the guys. he seemed nice enough, bit older, probs late 20's, from peru but has been living here for 8 years. then he was like ahhh sure il take u out for dinner, can show u some sights etc! it was rather funny, he asked for my num but thankfully i had the excuse of not having a canadian no. yet so he gave me his. dont think il be texting him, he wasnt sleasy or anything, he was really nice and chatty just but it just amused me! if only he was a nice big hunky canadian then maybe id have reacted slightly differently!!

i got my phone sorted today so now have a canadian no. woowoo! :) i wont be able to text you uk people a huge amount as its pretty expensive but i still appreciate texts! but fb is probs the best way to get me if your wanting a reply. my canadian no is 778-319-2729. im not sure if it costs you much to text me, but il check my uk no everyonce in a while so just incase its some form of emergeny probs best to get me on canadian no or faceybee!

hope you are all wonderful,

adios for now xxx

day 3

today I woke up at 5am - jet lag is slowly killing me! its really not cool! im trying so hard to stay awake at night and get myself into a routine but for some reaosn it doesnt seem to be happening! Its half 8 at night now and im half asleep writing this! But then again ive had a pretty busy day! i had my orientation meeting this morning which was pretty good, lots of info on banks, cell phone cards, applying for jobs etc. This took about an hour and a half and after i decided to do my Serving it Right exam. This is needed to be able to work in a bar/restaurant environment so hopefully it will be a $35 well spent! I passed with flying colours 29/30 - though it was an open book exam so I cant take all the credit! I met some fellow irish people in the swap centre, but the crazy thing was when i got into the lift to go up to the 7th floor i was in along with 2 other studenty looking people - in a slightly desperate state that im in to get to make some friends here i just asked if they were going to the swap cantre - yes! I then noticed a bit of a scottish accent so asked were abouts they were from - dundee!!! After a bit more conversation we worked out that the guys brother is actually in the year below me in interior design!! crazyyy small world eh?!!It was really good to hear a familiar accent and to have a bit of a natter with some people!
The sun came out today so after id done this I went for a walk around the waterfront and around canada place! This is a pretty famous landmark here, (my flatmate, Jackee is a profession jazz singer and is preforming here at the end of the month so thats pretty exciting!) anways i went for a walk around there and there was a hugeeee ass cruise ship docked! It was crazy to see this so close - they are actually massive! so got a bit snap happy there! I then went for an adventure into the gastown area, this is a pretty touristy area with lots of restaurants (yes, i took down lots of names of potential job places) and bought some postcards - send me your address and you might be lucky enough to get one!
I then decided I wanted to get a sim card for my phone so that I can put the number onto my cv, or resumee as it is called over here! I got the skytrain across to another part of vancouver in search of the shop and found it pretty easily. The guy was really helpful and sorted me out with a simcard etc and sent me off to activate it online. Not so successful!! it appears that my phone is possibly locked and so i think im going to have to take another adventure tomorrow to try and get this sorted! its a bit of a pain not having a no. as it proves pretty difficult to get to meet up with people etc.
So yea, tonight i got back about 6ish, got some food and have been taking it pretty easy since! I wish i would be able to stay awake later at night so I can actually get out and do something at night, but im sure you know me well enough to know that I need my sleep and usually go to bed pretty early! so fingers crossed this will sort itself out soon!
I think the plan for tomorrow is to go to the dragon boat racing and hopefully (fingers crossed) meet up with some other bunacers tomorrow! so it should be a fun one! il keep you posted! xxx

day 2

today i went for a walk around stanley park (google it) its like a bigggg huggeee park with a 10k walk right around the seawall edge! its amazing! sooo many amazing sights etc so was really good to see vancouver from there right at the start! i found the boat club too so that was good! i then came home and had a quick lunch before going to meet fellow bunacers to go to the aquarium. unfort this plan failed miserably as i got the wrong address and so ended up at the wrong place! :( felt like a complete knumpty!! so i wandererd about the town/shops for a bit, got myself a starbucks (everyone drinks sooo many starbucks here its crazy) and then went back home again! was a pretty longgg day of lots and lots of walking so my feet/legs are pretty sore! its brill that everything is within walking distance of eachother tho - not quite as small as dundee but not bad! think walking can be my exercise for now!! i then got home and chatted to my roommate for a while and then ended up going for a sleep at about half 5 - woke up two hours later! must have been tired coz i cant usually nap! crazyyyy times!
but yea, tomorrow i have my orientation meeting thing so will hopefully meet some people there and think im going to meet people tomorrow to go to the cinema! hopefully it will be a bit more successful this time!! will be good to meet some others who are on the same boat as me, then the job hunt will have to begin! i just want to get rid of the jet lag, get a job, get settled etc as its feeling all a bit overwhelming atm. but il be fine, i know that in a weeks time il look back and all will be well!

i have arrived

well after a longgg day of travelling and a severe lack of sleep i have arrived in vancouver!! :) the journey wasnt too bad, the fight was delayed two hours in glasgow but i suppose i cant really complain! the plane was hugeee had 9 seats per row and i have no idea how many rows there was! was crazyy! i was sitting beside a really lovely wee old lady (the plane was pretty much full of old people?!!) but she was going out for 9 weeks to do some travelling across the country to see her children and grandchilden - she was 82! go her!!

anyways i arrived at the airport, got luggage, got through the slightly scary immigration people etc fine, got onto the skytrain - its a train service that literally is up in the sky for some of the journey, so that was pretty fun! met jackee (my roommate) at the train station and came back to my new house for the summer! its gorgeous! il try and take some photos soon so you can see, but its just been newly renovated so its beautiful! off a tree lined street, little patio etc so think i will settle in very quickly! had a bit of a laugh last night after i got unpacked etc, went to sit on my bed (they had just built it a couple of days before for me coming) and it collapsed!! i dont think it was coz ive been eating everything in sight at home the past few weeks - im going to blame it on being an ikea bed! but jackee got her brother on hand and the drill out and a few screws later and all is well. it has survived my first night anyway! :)

so my first night over, its now nearly 7 in the morning and im wide awake - silly jet lag! i tired to stay awake as long as possible last night, lasted til about 7 and couldnt keep my eyes open any longer! im going to a meeting today with bunac to find out about banks, phonecards, jobs etc etc so will hopefully meet some people there. im hoping to meet up with some bunacers who have already arrived here to go for a bit of an adventure - i think the aquarium was mentioned so i will fill you in on it soon!

bye for now!
xxx