Downtown with the ladiesss

I can't believe how fast the days go by. Especially when it's weekend and you have fun!
Friday was a professional day, no idea what that exactly means, but the school was closed so.. yay? Anyway, that friday I did absolutely nothing. Guess I was kind of a bad exchange student just skyping away all day, but in the evening the skyping and laziness had it's end, because Tereza had picked up Olivia, and soon I was flying away from the couch, running off to Bill and Terezas house to hang out with Bob (not trying to confuse you guys, but Bob is Olivia. Just so you know.) We had fun like we always do, and I slept over at their house.
The next day, saturday, we had plans! Tereza was going to take the two of us to downtown Vancouver to eat lunch at a cute little café called Barnies. On our way to the café we had some Starbucks coffee (which I'm getting pretty addicted to, not good since the ones I order are pretty unhealthy). The pumpkin spice latte is.. amazing. Try it if you got the chance.

So, we had our lunch at Barnies, burgers and other yummi stuff, and then we went to Pacific centre, which is a big shopping mall in the middle of Vancouver. I bought a hat for the winter and for looking cool (ha), and Tereza bought an awesome Canada shirt for both Bob and I. I am sooo gonna wear it for school tomorrow and be a Canada fan.

After doing some shopping (not enough but we ran out of time), we ate some desserts at White Spot and Bob and I painted some blue stripes on our cheeks - we had to look like real Canuck fans, duh! All we was missing was a Vancouver Canucks shirt, which about half of the audience at the game wore.
I was really impressed how huge the hockey stadium was! Bob and I was a bit late for the game because we got lost, and it took forever to find our seats. But finally we were there, and woah, what a show.
I was too tired to actually follow on what was happening on the ice, but the entertainment everytime the game stopped (which was like every 5 minutes) was hilarious! Really, it was almost more about the audience than the game. People was acting crazy to get on the big screens, and the team mascot was walking around being weird.

1. OUR TICKETSSS! 2. me with my pumpkin spice latte.
3. two very full girls. 4. hockey game, Canucks vs. ducks!

 
Unfortunately the Canucks didn't win, but when they finally at the end of the game got a goal, I got the biggest shock ever. Totally unfocused on the game, I suddenly jumped because of a huge roar from the crowd, who made it sound like they just won, it was so funny!
Some other rather fun moments through the game was the fights. People got so excited when the players started beating each other up, for absolutely no reason, and they were like: "YEAH- SMACK HIM IN THE FACE". Nice.

Ha, no, it was a lot of fun. Had a really good day. Today I went to see Bob play soccer in Langley and stayed at her home for some time.
Then I met Julies mom when I came back home, and now .. now I think I'm gonna go take a looong and relaxing bath. Tomorrow, school.

Sick start...

It's been some time since I last wrote in my blog, and don't worry, I have plenty of good (and bad) excuses!
So... "Everything" started last friday. Jason picked me up from school early and we drove to Olivias house in Langley. I felt a bit sore in my throat, but I wasn't gonna miss out on anything for sure! Olivias mom drove us to White Rock beach, but unfortunately the tides were in, and after walking around on the rocks and well, not swimming, we decided to go to Coquitlam, where we were gonna go later anyway.
We ate dinner with Tereza, and and the deeeelicious poutine (I have to take a picture of that soon!). It's basically fries with cheese and brown sauce, but it's pretty good!

The next morning Bill drove us to another beach, where we would be able to swim for sure. It was White Pine beach, which is by a big lake surrounded by beautiful mountains and trees. We had lots of fun there, and didn't go home before noon. That night we were going to celebrate Bills 50th birthday. Tereza did a lot of fuss to decorate the house with a hawaiian theme, and of course everything turned out good, plus the weather was perfect.

1. Weird cake. 2. My pyramid! :D 3. Tereza shopping.
4. At the beach.

 
The only one who had a problem was me... My throat was starting to feel impossible, and my tonsils were swollen to abnormal size. I couldn't sink anything without being in pain, and well, I was feeling hopeless!
But I guess I shouldn't have felt like that, 'cause the day after Jason took me to the doctor, and I got my medicine for tonsillitis. Just typical that I should get sick the first week of school!

That monday I made the stupid choice to go to school and nearly kill myself, so I stayed home to next day. And now, friday, I'm good!

I've been missing out a lot of school already though, 'cause yesterday, Thursday, I was voulenteering at Coquitlam Sunrise rotary clubs golf tournament. It was lots of fun, even though it was the first rainy and cold day I've yet experienced in Canada! But the pavillion that Malcolm and I was placed in had a heater and 3 bottles of whiskey, so we were fine. Haha, well, I sat just by the heater while Malcolm was pouring out shots to the cold golfers. It was a good day :) (forgot my memory card for my camera though :(...)

Now it's finally weekend, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna relax! Tomorrow I'll be going to the cultural centre to see some music and comedy with some from my rotary club, and Sunday I'll be voulenteering at the Terry Fox run. So I've got lots to do :)

Oh, oh, oh and by the way! I was so mad at my yearbook class, because I had absolutely no ideas what theme I wanted to do, but yesterday night I finally made one (and used photoshop for the first time) - and my theme was chosen! Because people thought it reminded them of Harry Potter.. haha. So cool!  

Now I think I need to do my loundry..

First day of school!

Well, that was... hectic. I must admit that the first day of school wasn't just exacly as I expected, but it went pretty well anyway.
I mean, the very first day was Tuesday, but that was only for one hour, and I didn't really get to do much. But today... wow. There were so many people, I had no idea where to start! Everything is just so different. In Denmark I'm used to just staying with one class for the entire year. But now... new people in every class! It's sooo confusing! I'm really just trying to talk to everyone (well, not everyone, there is about 1200 students at the school), ask questions and just be like: "Hi, what's your name" (without being too annoying), and I managed to find some people to stay with in the lunch break. Yay!
Of course it's kind of hard to just join groups of friends, since it's not sure they're so open to new people, and I guess that was why I acutally, by total quincidence, talked to a lot of newbies like me. I mean, we just stand around looking lost, wondering where our next class is.

I'm not too sure about all of my classes, though... Photography, which I thought would be totally fun, actually seems way too boring. I mean, I like taking photos, but the teacher was just talking, talking and talking, and it was soo boring. Next class, yearbook, is (obviously) a class where we make the yearbook. Not sure I'm gonna be so good at it, but I think I found a few friends in there, so it should be ok. Next class was Spanish 11. It's probably gonna be my hardest class, since it's an intensive course where we have to learn everything we would've learned in Spanish 9 and 10... in a half year. Met two girls that seemed pretty cool in there, I'm probably staying. It would be nice to learn some Spanish. :)
My last is ceramics. I'm kinda sad it's in the last hour of school, 'cause by that time I'm so tired, and it seems to be a very relaxing and artistic course. But I think it's a keeper.

My school from the front. :) Gleneagle!

One thing that was kind of odd: None of the teachers was aware, that I am an exchange student. None. I din't bother to tell them today, since they were talking non stop, but I probably will tomorrow. They should know, that they shouldn't take me too seriously... I mean, all the teachers are pretty funny and relaxed, but they make it clear that they are serious about grades and such things. And grades don't count for me... so I don't want to be working way too hard, haha.
But a funny thing in class was that everyone was so quiet! The teacher was joking, trying to be funny and such things, but the students were all like: "We don't care, we will just shut up.." I was just sitting there having a good time by my self. Oh well. Maybe people was nervous 'cause they didn't know anyone.

It's boiling hot outside! No idea how hot, but it must be like 30C. I was about to die on my way home from school. No kidding.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the weekend! Not because I'm tired of school already (well, maybe a bit tired of getting up early, haha), but because I'll be doing lots of fun stuff! Saturday I'm going to a barbeque at Bill and Tereza's to celebrate Bill's 50th birthday. And on Sunday I'm going gokarting with another Rotary club - and I'll get to meet the exchange student from Spain! Looking forward to that! :)

Best weekend! :D

Finally, after many awesome days, I got some time to relax and write in my blog.
3 days ago I mest Terezas niece, Olivia. She's such a nice girl! Bill (the guy who's going to be my next hostdad) picked me up at home, and we drove to a nearby chinese restaurant in his huge red pickup truck. The restaurant was really busy, but we had a seat and waited for Tereza (my next hostmom) and Olivia to arrive. When they arrived we ordered some food that we all shared, and it was really good, real chinese, not Canadian chinese.

When we had eaten, it was probably about 7.30 pm, and Tereza had promised to take Olivia and I to the mall to do some shopping. And I really have to say, I'm impressed how long all the stores are open here in Coquitlam! The mall didn't close before 9 pm, and many grocery stores don't close until 22 or even 24 pm. Insane. As Tereza said to me, the Canadians are major consumers, they buy waaay too much. But I must admit, I really like that everything is open so late. Nothing better than some late night shopping on a Thursday!
After doing some shopping in some a-w-e-s-o-m-e stores, we went and had some ice cream. Really awesome concept they have with the ice cream! You chose flavor, if you want gummybears, cheesecake, brownie, fruit or whatever inside, and you chose your own kind of cone. It was great!

When we came home Olivia and I watched a movie in the basement, and after freaking out a bit because of the horror movie, we both went to sleep in my room at 3 am. We didn't get so much sleep though, 'cause we had to get up at 8 am. We were going to Playland and a fair called PNE, in Vancouver! Julie, Ethan, his friend, Tereza, Olivia and I went there together. It was so much fun! Oliva and I tried all the fun rides, and we just walked around and enjoyed the weather and ate cotton candy and mini doughnuts (which are awesome).
We spend the entire morning and afternoon there, having lots of fun. :)

1. Playland! 2. Olivia and I :). 3. Tereza, after eating some blue
stuff xD. 4. mini doughnuts!

The day wasn't over yet, though! Tereza and Bill were invited to a party, where they celebrated that ramadan is over. Olivia and I went there too, and I think that was the best evening here so far. The family we visited was East Indian, and they were soooo nice! They had made so much food, and it was all really good and interesting. Olivia and I played around with some cute kids, and later we went out on a bush walk with two guys and one girl at our age. We had so much fun, we didn't notice time at all! We walked around in the neighborhood and on the trails with a big flashlight, and we hung out in the kids' treehouse.
It was just a really good evening!

Tomorrow I'm going hiking with Julie and a guy she goes hiking with every weekend... so I have to get up early! Hope it's gonna be fun :)

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. :)