The hardest thing about a blog…….

....is knowing when you have something new to write about. I have been in Victoria, Canada for a week now just doing life and keep thinking that I should write something else. But then I go, but I have nothing to write about. But Em said to me that she wanted to hear about the mundane stuff as the would be exciting to her, and Anthea keeps telling me she want to know everything. So here is mundane and everything for the past week.

I left you last week when I was at the aiport and found that my flight had been delayed by four hours (which is how I finished my first post) The weather in Toronto was bad so the Toronto- Sydney flight was held up there which made my flight Sydney- Vancouver (cos they needed the plane) delayed. Anyway, they called us for boarding and then my name was called over the PA and I had to make myself known to the check- in staff. SCARY!! My little heart dropped to my stomach. I had no idea what they wanted me for, so I picked up my very heavy carry on bag, (trying to make it look like it was the lightest thing in the world) and made myself known. All they needed was to let me know that they had changed my seat. WINNER!! I was shifted from 19A which was a window to 19G which was an aisle seat WOOT! An even bigger win.  The aisle seat was great as I didn’t have to jump over people every time I wanted to get out, which was a good thing as the person next to me didn’t even give me the time of day. She would just watch me out of the corner of her eye, it was just like being at home with my next door neighbours lol. My first question of the flight was, why would you make us lowly economy class travellers walk through first and business class to get to our seats. They have a nice set-up and if I had the money that’s the way I would fly. What the airlines should do is make the upper class passengers walk through economy class just to remind them how special they have got it lol.

So 14 hours on a plane. The first 10 weren’t so bad. I was fed, I was watered and I had movies to watch and I got some sleep. There were so many movies to choose from. I ended up watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2 and Rango. It was the last four hour that I started to get a bit edgy, just because I was stuck between 2 times and thinking about what I had to do at the airport to get another flight to Victoria, as my flight was meant to be at 10am but we weren’t arriving until 11 so that was a fail in connecting flights. Getting off the plane it was actually good to not be under any pressure to catch another flight, as when we hit the customs hall the line was huge. All these people were huffing and puffing about their next flight I was just like meh, ill get there when I get there. The line did move pretty quickly so it only really took about 20 mins, It was my visit to immigration to get my permit that made me huff and puff. I walked in and there were about 30 Chinese exchange students aged between 8 and 18 all needing permits. The immigration people were collecting their passports and processing them in groups but the kids didn’t focus and when their names were called and it was an epic task. So two hours later I was out of immigration with my permit and on a mission to find out the time of my next flight and contact my family to let them know.  I ended up on the 15:30 flight to Victoria and arrived at 16:00, at last I had made it. Six hours after my original time. One  good thing about that was that I only had to stay awake for about 4 hours as opposed to 10 hours if I had have arrived on time.  

The next day, I went with my Aunty and Uncle to pick up my Cousin Cam from camp,  about an hour and a half drive up the island, we went to a place called Port Renfrew for lunch and then drove home through Sooke. Sunday we went to church at my families church. By comparison to Yorkie it was pretty small and pretty new, they are celebration 40 years this year. The service was most like our 8:45 service. My Aunty played the piano, my Uncle lead the worship and my cousin did sound.  The part I most struggled with was using the hymn book. If you miss the number of the song, by the time you have found it the song is all done. The last time we used a hymn book at Yorkie was probably to prop up a foldback or something lol.

Not me.

Sunday afternoon, my cousins and I went to this place called Wild Play. It is a high ropes course that is up in the trees. It was heaps of fun, except we had to sit on a platform up in the trees for about half an hour as there was a rescue mission for someone who had gotten stuck and couldn’t get off one of the obstacles.

Monday, Tuesday and yesterday I just chilled at home with my cousins. Had my first Canadian migraine yesterday so spent most of the day in bed. Feel better today though. This weekend is the Saanich Fair. My cousin Louisa has a horse called Rock, so she will be doing horse stuff with him at the fair, plus cupcake, watermelon and pie eating competitions and lots of other stuff.

So that is pretty much my first week in Canada, with a few drives, scenic views and trips to the supermarket left out.

I thought  that as  I go along I would a ‘things that are different’ segment. Apart from the obvious like driving on the other side of the road and the drivers seat being on the left side of the car. Other little things are different, so:

Milo- Sweeter and less malty. You also don’t really get the crunchy bits on top, they just seem to be soft bits of sugar

Light switches- up is on and down is off

Powerpoints- most that I have seen don’t have on/ off switches

Buttons on traffic lights for pedestrians – both buttons are on the one post as opposed to having the button at the post that is closest to the direction you are walking. Its hard to explain so I will get a picture.

Toilets and drains – I’m not sure. They seem to goo clockwise but I can’t remember what way Australia goes. Can someone please let me know? Thanks