Volunteering and Planespotting

Just like at my last co-op job, the engineers here are also involved in helping the community. My first Friday working at the airport, I was at there bright and early to participate in the "FOD Walk" (FOD = foreign object debris), where we picked up FOD around the airport. Then, we had our own "TOD Walk" (TOD = trailer object debris). Yeah, the acronym doesn't work out quite as well, but I'm over it. Tomorrow morning, a bunch of us are heading out to Burnaby for the morning to help with the set-up of a new food bank. The cool part about this food bank is that the people who coordinate it are trying to make it more dignified for the people who use it. So, really, we're setting up a "grocery store" of sorts. That'll be new for me, since I've never worked in retail! People will be able to come in and pick up what they need from the shelves, just like grocery shopping! I'll get back to you on how it goes!

In other volunteering news, I have a Sparks unit!! I will get to be a Sparks leader for the four months of the Sparks "season" that I'm out here! It turns out that I'll also be the most experienced of the bunch, as they have just had a big turnover in the leaders for the unit. My four years of experience gives me the most seniority (although, my seventeen years also does too, likely). I'm excited to meet the leaders and the girls and have the opportunity to share ideas all the way from Ontario! Now all I need to do is pick up my Guiding shirt and camp hat when I'm home in a few weeks. The only downside to the situation is that the yoga class I have been trying is on the same night. So, I'll be finding a new to go to, if I still like it by then.

On that note, I can walk this week after yoga! My hamstrings seem to have figured themselves out and this week I came out of the class feeling like I had a great workout, instead of a painful stretching session. Although, I have been feeling the burn in my shoulder, arm, leg and hip muscles for these two days. I also love that I can walk to and from the class! (And there's a market that's still open after the class on the walk to I can refuel with a chocolate milk!)

I'm going to finish off this post by saying again how nice my commute is! I've been able to sit at the windows of the SkyTrain a few times this week and I'm pretty sure I looked like a little kid when the planes went over. They're so close!! These pictures don't even do any justice. You can practically see the people in the plane. It's the coolest thing!

Beaches and Waffles and Postcards

I think that the title of this post sounds pretty hipster. Especially with the postcards part. But, no friends, I am not a hipster (even though my Ray Bans might try and deceive you). However, I am pretty relaxed after my weekend!

After a big, tasty barbecue dinner on Friday night, the boyfriend and I took to Spanish Banks on Saturday, where a group of his friends was getting together for beach volleyball. For those of you who had to endure gym class with me in Grade 9, you'll know that I'm not particularly good with hand-eye coordination. Like, not at all. I probably shouldn't even attempt to play sports involving balls because it just doesn't happen. Not to mention the fact that I burn like a burger that my dad is barbecuing (just kidding, Dad! I know you're just making sure that it's cooked all the way through!), so I had my big baseball hat and sunglasses on. Now I didn't only lack the coordination, but also the visibility. Needless to say, after some fruitless attempts and a very encouraging (but probably frustrating) couple of rounds, I decided to become the protector of the food. We were going to have a big picnic lunch later! Somehow though, I have still been in extreme pain for the last two days . . . I blame all of the running I had to do through the sand to get the balls that I missed.

The tide was also waayyyyyy out on Saturday, you probably had to walk a kilometre to even get to the water! Luckily (or not so luckily) there was also a strong breeze (wind) blowing down the beach, along with probably half the sand that was there.

After enjoying as a spectator for a bit longer, we started up the barbecue and had sausages . . . and vegetables and watermelon and drinks and chips and antojitos and brownies and cookies. So much food!

That evening we also attended a gathering for a birthday, where we enjoyed beverages. Some random, apparently cheap, beverage from Kelowna. It kind of tasted like water when you got to the bottom, which was weird. I also happened to run into my cousin on the way there, which was nice because we hadn't seen each other in a while. Such a coincidence in such a big city! I don't think I've been awake that late since I moved here!

On the way home from the event, we passed a waffle place on the bus and I was determined to try it from that moment on. No surprise then that I ended up there on Sunday morning. I tried out the apple and cheddar waffle. It even came with a cute little salad on the side. Waffle Gone Wild! is my new favourite place! So tasty!

In fun news work, I got a name placard! I guess I'm here long enough to warrant one. Or maybeeee I'll be able to use it next year . . . after I graduate. Hmmmm. You also get to see my desk, with its fun high-visibility vest and hard hat.

Today, when I came home from work, where I spent my day being productive, but also stuck at a desk, I found a lovely surprise in the mail. My bestie had sent me a postcard from her east coast biking trip! I don't even know how she got my address, but it was so exciting! I love mail. I even keep stamps in my purse, so I can send fun things. Like cards. I love sending cards. Postcards are even better though! Thanks girly!

And now here I am. I'm planning on going all Vancouver this week and trying out some yoga (for free of course). Which is great because apparently it's supposed to rain. Yay for Vancouver.

Yay! Fireworks!

I really like that these long weekend things happen pretty much every month! When you work a standard Monday-to-Friday-9-to-5 (well, I actually do 8:30 am to 4:30 pm) job, long weekends are the coolest thing ever!

I kept myself busy and spent tons of time outside because we almost had some Ontario-like weather temperature-wise. What I really liked was that this didn't translate to Ontario-like weather humidity-wise. Much easier for a person with cystic fibrosis!

Friday, the boyfriend and I had poutine pizza . . . our new favourite thing that we probably shouldn't have ever consumed more than once. It's actually so good though!

On Saturday, I decided we were definitely going to the beach. If I was home in Ontario I would be, so I was definitely going to be doing it here! Being by the water also made the temperature so much more bearable. There was a strong breeze (which was also good because there was no way I was staying in the water that long!) that kept us cool and we did try the water out once. I was also a big dork and had my hat, sunglasses and layers of sunscreen on. It wasn't fruitless though, I didn't get burnt at all! The boyfriend was not so lucky.

On Sunday, we decided to head over to UBC and wander around. We saw the flagpole plaza. It's such a pretty spot because the campus opens right up to the mountains and it's just like "Bam! Canada!" How appropriate for the Canada Day long weekend! There were also these super cool squishy seat things (also notice how they are white, so the glaring sun doesn't heat them up much and they can be sat on . . . science, friends). We also headed down to the rose garden where I decided to have a photo shoot since I matched the roses so well. I could even kind of smell them (like I'm pretending to do), unusual for me!

Here's the only bad part of the weekend . . . really, the only bad thing since I've been out here. You've probably guessed it . . . the crows. Yes, I am bringing them up again. This time, we were walking through UBC (not anywhere near where I live) and I saw one sitting up on one of the banners around the campus. I am legitimately scared of these things from my past encounters and the boyfriend was making fun of me and saying how it was going to get me. Obviously we didn't think it actually would, but just as we had walked past it (together!) it swooped down behind me and it's wing hit my back! Just like the other time! Except this time, I didn't have a jacket and was wearing a tank top. So, I started to cry. There's pictures. Yep, awesome. I'm convinced it was aiming for me because there's no way that it would have just happen to hit me instead of him! I'm also convinced that it likes my hair. It must be the same colour as some crow predator or something. Or maybe it looks like nest material. I don't know, but I've had just about enough! Fledgling season was supposed to be over! I'm also probably going to be known at work as "Crazy Crow Girl" or something.

On to happier things. Monday. The day I had been waiting for. Fireworks! Now, obviously you can't see fireworks during the day, so we had to do something. We went for a walk in Pacific Spirit Park! Most of it was okay, except for hills. I hate hills. We've also decided that the boyfriend must scare people off because every single person we passed said hello to us, but that never, ever happens when he's alone. It also happened at the grocery store before. Weirdo.

After cooling down from the walk, we headed towards the beach because we had a plan to be able to watch BOTH sets of fireworks . . . and also not get stuck downtown until 3:00 am. From the beach, you could see the high fireworks above the buildings and hear them too. Across the water, in West Vancouver, you could see the whole show because they were out on a barge in the inlet. Good plan too because transit was crazy that day! As we were getting to the beach, the bus stopped to let people off and then made a funny noise and shut down. We figured we might as well walk from where we were since we didn't know what was going on, but just as we stepped out, this river of green slime started pouring out of the bottom of the bus and running along the curb. That couldn't have been healthy. Also, for my environmental engineering friends, you might want to look into how great that is going into the storm sewers.

All in all, a great weekend! Yay! Fireworks!