Still Holding Down the Fort Out Here!

So, I might have done that thing where I don't blog for a really long time again. Oops. I've been up to a lot though, between Sparks (we went to the firehall and the library!), school (been doing lots of 41X and have finished marketing, I believe, successfully!), work (I coordinated the building of a can sculpture and we had our Christmas party on Saturday night, which was awesome!) and adventuring around Vancouver (the aquarium, Science World and this crepe place that I found!) with the boyfriend.

Just to make things easy on you, I'll post lots of pictures, so those of you who are writing exams can save your brainpower for that.

The Vancouver Aquarium

We just really love it here. We probably should have just bought season passes because this is the third time I've been here since May and the fourth time this year. We saw the penguins (who never swim, ever), sea otters (they were feeding them shrimp treats!), the dolphin show and a sloth. The jellyfish exhibit was also on, so we had fun looking at that!

Science World

We hadn't made it to Science World yet, so we thought we would head over there one weekend. We went through and explored all of the exhibits (I might have also been very sore the next day from trying to beat the boyfriend in a jumping contest) and saw a movie in the IMAX dome, which was at the top of the facility. We had to walk up this long and winding ramp to get there, which was pretty cool! I created some energy in the running machine (which lasted about 10 seconds) and saw conveyors (I think work is getting to me) and a Pelton wheel (applied fluids and thermodynamics will never let me forget because this is the second Pelton wheel picture I've had in my blog!). We also saw a dinosaur (skeleton) and played with some fun machines.

Trixi's Crepes

I found this place one evening on my way to Sparks and have been going every week all month. I sit in there and have a crepe dinner between work and Sparks, since I don't have time to go home, and I work on the crossword or sudoku (usually I'm done this already because I've become a sudoku master while commuting to work) or read the newspaper. So tasty!

Can Sculpture

I coordinated and executed the building of this can sculpture at work during the airport's big charity blitz for the same food bank that we volunteered at earlier in the year. I drew up the design (the airport logo), selected the cans (which were actually not all correct when delivered, darn it grocery store!) and helped coordinate volunteers to build it on the day of the event. That's (almost) 800 cans you're looking at!

So, that's been most of my adventures lately! I've got less than two weeks left out here, so it will mostly just be packing and wrapping things up. My last Sparks meeting is this week and I should probably get around to my work report at some point.

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!