Fireworks part 1 - Canada

Finals is really going to kick my butt but how can you resist fireworks? Yesterday, I headed downtown to a friend's place on Pacific and Bute. I love his view. Just a block away from the beach, how can you complain about that even if it is just a one room apartment. I just love the cozyness... This fireworks competition going on right now supposedly happens every year. Thank God there is actually fireworks here. I was beginnging to get worried. So here we are with some of the pictures I got from the 20 minute show by Canada.







Not bad la right? I would upload the videos I took but... I don't know how to. I don't think the video is compatible or something. Weird... It's about 2 am now. lAnd thank God class is not until noon.

Toodles!

Grouse Grind

For the past weekend, I think I was surviving on m&ms and... a lil something something to keep myself awake. I haven't touched my books in a while though I really should start to get worried since finals is in 2 weeks. Shit. But instead, I am having a jolly good time going on a hike after a mere 2 hours of sleep and then going kayaking in the same day. Terrer, right?

There are no pictures of the kayaking I am afraid. (I was a little worried if the kayak toppled over and in goes in Sybil with her camera and my camera is my baby)

The fastest person to hike up this mountain took about 26 minutes. I took 75 minutes (inclusive of picture taking moments and water breaks) So not bad la right? I mean, after a total of 6 hours of sleep in 48 hours is not bad to me. I was expecting at least an hour and a half. But I was happy of making it! Woot Woot!
It's a little like FRIM back home. Lots of stairs to climb up. Vertically, it's about 3000 feet and distance-wise it's about 2000m. I hate inclination but it's really the best way to work out.

The scenery is pretty. It's... green. What isn't here, anyway?

So after a gruelling hike up, I reached the top with everyone awaiting my arrival with cheers and applause for my victorious accomplishment. Well, no... That didn't happen but I had you going there, didn't I?

It was a little foggy that day but a good day all in all...

It's green everywhere here really...

My dad and I got onto the free ride on the ski lift and had a nice rest while looking out to the whole of Vancouver area. A little foggy though...
And lookie here, there were 2 grizzly bears there. One's mother was killed by a car or something and the pup was taken in. It wouldn't have survived on its own being so young anyway. I don't know the other one's story though...

This guy was really funny. He reminds me of Baloo in Jungle Book. He starts rubbing his back on the rocks and shakes around like he's dancing. Then he stands up on his hind legs and starts waving at us. Kinda cool...

And this is the other guy... I think...

All in all, it was a really good weekend. I have tons of fun with no proper sleep. Ahhh... the simplistic life of a university student. (I was being sarcastic)

Toodles loves!

MMR

Okay. I am updating... Stop fussing... It's been a little hectic here with... stuff.... And one of which includes baby seals and a harbour porpoise! Exciting, no? So, now I volunteer with the Marine Mammal Rescue Centre which is also part of the Vancouver Aquarium. Every Thursday, I go down to the docks by Main Street and basically make their milk formulas to fatten them up, clean out their tubs where they eat, poo and sleep in and basicallly, just have fun.

Adorable, no?

Every year, they have a theme to name the seals instead of just calling them by numbers. So, this year, the theme is Famous Mammals?.. So we have Walrus, Lemur, Pika, (I had no idea there were such mammals named that, trust me), Bear and others I can't think of right now...Before you all start thinking this must be awesome fun-ness (which it is) these seals seriously stink. STINK! So, be prepared for the smell if you ever see seals.
And here is Daisy, the harbour porpoise with me trying to get her nearer so I can give her a belly rub. Haha. She's the sweetest thing, honestly. She's been deemed unreleasable so by the Fisheries Department so she is basically recuperating there and playing with her toys.
She feels really rubbery. It's a nice feeling. Every time I come there before my shift, I sit up there and pat her on the head and rub her belly if she wants me to.

So I know this is a really short update but be happy there is one! I miss you all too.

Selamat tinggal! =)

Canada Day!

Canada Day is celebrated every year on the 1st of July. I really did not know that until coming here (and thank God it was a holiday...) I think Malaysians are so used to having so many holidays that it must be such a bummer when other countries have so little... I was actually working that day in the afternoon from 3 to 8 pm at Playland. And here's a little overview of how the Amusement Park looks like...I work at the Kid's Place at the Stunt Cycles (I think my ride is called that, anyway) and it's basically like a merry go round but only with motorcycles instead of horses. It's quite fun because some of the kids are pretty funny or really chubby or smart looking... It's funny how you can just tell by looking at them but then again, I've been told never to judge a book by its cover.

The plan after work was to go to the beach to watch the fireworks but instead, a friend took me to North Vancouver and it was interesting. It's even more nature-y there. Lots of big houses. Small city centres but everything here is on a small scale anyway. And then I got a little trigger happee and decided to take some pictures of random sights...
I believe this is downtown Vancouver? I might be wrong... But it looks like it...
That mountain, we concluded, was SFU (my university). Pretty cool eh?
And then the fireworkds started. Forgive my shakiness. I actually forgot to set the camera properly for dark pictures. So much for 2 minutes... It ended up going on for 20 minutes which was pretty cool for Canada. Haha... I guess I underestimate Canada's potential but then again, Vancouver is full of Asians...


And after the fireworks were over, it was pretty peaceful just watching the night unfold. Time is seriously flying because I can't seem to enjoy my holidays properly. It just zooms by and I'm like... what just happened? Why do good times go by so fast? and miserable times seem to last forever? But I guess that's a discussion for another post.

Good night.

Strawberry picking

It's been a very long while since I last updated and stuff did happen, that's why I didn't update! Duh! On June 23rd, my father brought me to pick strawberries all the way down south in Westhampton or something like that, near Delta. It was quite a lot of work going down on your knees just to find them. I thought they would look a little taller but there they are... It's probably a killer for strawberry-pickers to do this job...

Just rows and rows of them...
And from an upclose view of the plant...
After a grueling hour in the sun, i got my strawberries =]... Some were sweet and some were sour... A lot of people come out to the farms to do this apparently... You pick them yourself and you pay like $2 per pound which I guess is not that bad... Apparently, if you don't wash the pre-packaged strawberries, you just might get E.coli because the farm workers who take a crap out in the fields don't wash after. So... yeah...

After picking, we watched Sharkwater. I suggest everyone watch it because you never know the extent of problems until you watch it with your own eyes. What those people do to sharks is terrible... and so sad... It's not going to stop if this billion-dollar industry doesn't stop! Anyway, watch it! and you'll know what I mean...Ice-cream time! We went to this place which had like 218 flavours. (I know it looks like a Chinese place but it's NOT! It's owned by an Italian) But I guess he's smart to put Chinese characters to attract the Chinese market since Vancouver is full of them!

Okay. this is just one of the events that went on 2 weeks ago. I will be back to write more when I actually have time.

Toodles!