Donkey kong and cupcakes!

Geez, I never thought I would be beaten in a computergame by a 9-year old... But I guess the day had to come.
Ethan is a blast! He's really chatty, funny and just sweet. So no annoying little brother here :)
I really have to get used to the everyday life in the house. Jason and Julie work a lot, so they have a nanny - she's really sweet. She takes care of Ethan, the house and the dog while the J's are at work. She also cooks food all the time, which I'm totally not used to, I'm used to cooking my self or helping out my mom, so it's something new. I guess I'll just have to get used to it... *sigh*... haha, no, it's all good, it just makes me totally lazy.
But I do have to clean my own room and bathroom, and I have to wash my clothes. So it's not all glamour... which is probably for the best.

Yesterday Jason, Julie, Ethan and I drove home from the grandparents in Kelowna. On the way back we went to Costco (a huuuge store with everything in BIG size). It seems like Canadians just like everything sized up a bit. Furnitures are big, houses are big, food is big... some people are big.. It's funny.
After being at Costco, Julie and I did some preparations for dinner. We were going to eat at Bill and Tereza's (my next hostfamily), and being there was lots of fun! They are just wonderful people. Bill showed me pictures of him as a real cowboy, and Tereza just talked and talked and showed me the house and my room. We talked about Danish food and also Hungarian food, since Tereza is originally from Hungary.
It's really nice that they only live 3 houses away, and that my hostfamily are such good friends with them. :)

Oh, and also I have to show some pictures from the big family party in Kelowna! It was a 70-years birthday, but everyone got a cute cupcake with their age on it. And I helped making frosting - yaay! They were so yummi. The party was really fun, and everyone was so nice.

 

1. chocolate chips from Cosco! 2. Making awesome cake.
3. Cute small guys playing hockey :D. 4. Peach season! At the market.

Kelowna is pretty hot

Yea. It is. About 33 degrees.
Jason, Julie and I arrived at the grandparents home in Kelowna yesterday evening. It's a real family meeting! Jasons sister, brother, the brothers wife and their kid are all here, and tomorrow even more people will gather for a garden party. :)
Earlier today we all went to the beach to build sand castles, lay in the sun and just relax. Everyone here is really nice, and I'm enjoying my self, even though it would be nice with someone at my age. But I'm all right, after all I will be surrounded by teenagers from the 6. september until I go back to Denmark.

Jasons brother and Julie took me for a ride around in Kelowna, and we went up to the top of one of the many, many mountains, and of course I took some pictures!

At the beach :)

Kelowna from top :)

Actually, there just are such a beautiful and different nature here in BC, compared to what I'm used to in Denmark. All the mountains, endless pinetree forests, huge lakes and even deserts.

In all of this beautiful country, I also found out that many native Americans live. I haven't seen anyone yet, though. Julie told me that many of them are living under poor conditions. A looong time ago they were put in reservations, and the location of these reservations have had a huge impact on their lives. Some have been so lucky to be placed close to cities, so that they were able to sell their country to the white and earn a lot of money, and some have been lucky to live on some oil. But many haven't been so lucky. They actually still are very poor and aren't doing well in society. It's sad that some stupid decisions like that can change lives in such a negative way for so many years...

Too many names!

Waking up at 6 am has never been my thing... but anyway, that's what I did today. Jason and I went to the Coquitlam rotary meeting place: A swimminghall. The meeting didn't take place in the pool though, even though that would've been kinda cool, but in a big room next to it. Jason walked into the room, and I followed him closely. About one second after I entered the room, the first rotarian came to introduce himself to me. And so it went on and on and on, the names flying into my head from one site, exiting on the other site.

I sat at table with Jason, a vet and some other men. Since it was a breakfast meeting, there was a small buffet with pancakes, egg, fruit, cake and some other things, which we first ate. When we were done, the chairman stood up.
The chairman was a lady and she told everyone that I was there, and that I was going to come up and say a few words. And so I did. A bit nervous, stumberling over my words, I said thank you and told them a bit about myself. When I was done, I gave the chairman my present from the Nykøbing rotary club, a small banner.
Afterwards there was a guy who did a presentation about his work with some young kids in South Africa.
All in all, it was a pretty fun first meeting.

 

The chairman and I at the Rotary meeting. :)

In about an hour Jason will drive me to Georges house. I will join them for dinner - my first Canadian barbeque! It's probably going to be pretty fun, because he has two big kids. I already met his son who has been to France as an exchange student some years ago. :)

An hour ago I went for a walk around in the neighborhood and on some nearby hiking trails:

Down, left: The street I live on. :)

OH MY GOD IT'S... raining.

So after one day of beautiful blue skies and high temperatures... rain. It really shouldn't surprise me, I mean, it's Vancouver, everyone tells me to prepare for the rain. But the rain didn't stop me from exploring - oh no! I was wandering around in the rain carrying an umberella, taking pictues of random things. Actually the only reason I did that, was because Jason and Julie was at their office doing some work.

The familys dog, Sofie! :). and some random street.

Some time before I walked in the rain, Jason and I had gone to visit a hotel owned by the rotary clubs counselor, Tereza, who's actually going to be my next hostmother. I also met my second hostfather yesterday as he came over for dinner. His name was Bill, and he's a funny guy with a round belly and a moustache. He once was a cowboy, they told me. Didn't think they had cowboys in BC... but appearently they weren't joking. 

But anyway, at the hotel we ate some lunch and I was really surprised about the service. You simply get free re-fills on ice tea and coffee. Free. That would never happen in Denmark!
Later that day we also went grocery shopping. Also there I was a bit surprised about the service. First of all, the store was really really neat. Another thing: The cash lady simply packed our groceries into bags we brought ourselves. That's what I call service!

Again today, I'm really tired too early. I guess it takes a lot of time to adjust... But it's ok for me to go to bed early today, because I have to wake up at 6.15 am tomorrow. Jason and I are going to a breakfast meeting in the Rotary club, and I really have no idea why it has to be so early.
After the meeting I will be going somewhere with a guy called George from the Rotary club, and his son. I don't know what we will be doing yet, but it's probably gonna be pretty fun. :)

So g'night!

Jetlag?

At 7 pm I was so tired, my head was about to take a dive into my plate of pasta and yellow squash. Yellow squash is a weird vegetable, by the way. It feels like some sort of pumpkin in your mouth, and it has absolutely no taste. The pasta was good though, fresh pasta with tomato sauce from the local Italian store. Yum.

Today went by really quickly! I woke up ridiculously early, took a shower and ate two pieces of toast. Found out I don't really like Canadian butter. But on the other hand I liked their jam and philadelphia cheese. Jason and I went on a tour around in the area. The city seems endless! The cities Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody just sort of floats together, and I swear I've never seen so many traffic lights in my life.
 We drove to a huge electronics, music, what ever-store called Best Buy where Jason had to buy a few (well, a lot of) things. When done we just cruised around, and Jason showed me where the Rotary meetings with the Port Moody club and the Coquitlam club will be.

I found out that the meetings they have are breakfast meetings, that I will have to attend as often as possible before school on wednesdays and thursdays. A bit more often that I had thought, but it will be ok. Then I at least get to know everyone quite well, and the chances of them inviting me on trips or to their home will definitely be bigger - which is a huge plus!

One of the many big roads. With a view :D

Before dinner Jason and Julie (I met Julie! And she's really nice) told me about the 'rules' of the house and what I'm allowed to do, what kind of duties I have in the house and such.

Oh, and by the way - their dog Sofie is adorable :D

Hello Coquitlam!

I can't believe it. I simply can't. I'm here, sitting in my room in my new house beginning a new life in Coquitlam.
Yesterday I was sitting in the airplane excited as hell to meet my hostfamily. It was a long travel: I got up at 6.30 am, drove to the airport with my family, boarded the plane to Toronto at 12.30 am, and then I flew, in company of the other 11 exchange students, for 8 hours. When we landed in Toronto, we split up because some of the students had to go north, some west and some east, while some were getting picked up in Toronto.

Mmmhhh.. plane food.. ew.

Kenneth and I were both going to Vancouver, so we had to wait for a few hours in the airport.
After about 3 hours of waiting we boarded the plane at about 6.30 pm. We then flew for 5 hours, crossed a few timelines and landed in Vancouver at 8.30 pm. We were totally smashed and tired, but also excited to meet our hostfamilies. I met Jason, my hostfather, and was greeted warmly. Also another guy from the rotary club and his son was there to pick me up. By total coincidence we also met two other exchange students arriving with the same plane as us! Jason told me that I will be seeing them soon again, and in the end of september we will be having a sort of introcamp together with 11 other students from district 5050.

On the way home from the airport Jason and I talked a lot, while I also admired the sight of Vancouver by night. Big mountains form a beautiful background to all the tall buildings, and tons of supermarkets covered the sides of the broad road. Jason told me that I will meet his wife, Julie, tomorrow evening, and that we will all go pick up their 9-year old son Ethan in next weekend. He also told me that he can guarantee that I will be going skiing, that we will be going to a hockey game to se the Vancouver canuks, and that the exchange students will be going to see a canadian football game. It's going to be so much fun! :)

Right now the time is around 8 am (I really don't know why I woke up this early..), and later Jason and I will be going around the city, so I can learn how to use the busses, and just to geet a look around.


Maybe I should try to get a bit more sleep now... If I can.

See you!

My bedroom in Vancouver. Yay! Big bed! :D

Two days!

I just decided that it would be a pretty good idea to write a blog during my year as an exchange student in Canada. Honestly I had considered it a few times, but I never really got to the point of actually doing it. But here it is - ready to be written and read! If anyone would like to read it, that is :D
I decided to write the blog in English, since I will be going to Canada, and more people will be able to understand what I'm writing. So I don't hope it bothers any of my Danish followers. (Bare spørg, hvis der er noget, I gerne vil have forklaret! Måske kommer der også nogle danske updates en gang i mellem.)

While I write this blog entry, there are only two days until I leave Denmark. For almost one year. That's pretty insane.
I started packing today. It's late.. I know.. but I think I only just realised that I actually am leaving pretty damn soon! For a long time it simply seemed unrealistic that I was going to Canada, but now that the day is coming so close, I'm starting to get really excited! For some reason I'm not really nervous... I guess that comes when I arrive :)

Earlier today I bought a present for my first host family: A book with many very beautiful pictures of famous places in Denmark. I also bought a rain coat (I've heard that it rains a lot in Vancouver).
Tomorrow is probably going to be a bit sad... I'm going to say goodbye to my grandparents and my boyfriends family. But I'm going to try to enjoy it the most I can and have a good day with my parents, sister and boyfriend before I say goodbye to them too. :)


Still ... SO EXCITED!! :D