The sign

WHILE YOU WERE AWAY......

Hmm, there is so much to tell, so many little things that I think about each day to write and then of course I never actually get around to doing it. I'll ramble on for a while, how about that? Canada is still treating me well, the Canucks are so friendly. I work with this strange mix of environmentalist, open minded folk and then real red neck, small town folk who like hunting and fishing and stuff. It's quite perplexing. I've eaten Moose pepperetts and walked out on frozen lakes (the world's bigget fresh water lake without an island) and visited the ice huts that guys tow out with their trucks. They have them set up so they can fish through the ice all winter long in these tiny shacks with fires inside. I got to whiz past them at about 100 miles an hour on a friend's ski-doo (like a jet ski on sleds for the ice and snow). Obviously I wasn't driving then. When I had the controls I got up to the thrilling heights of thirty miles an hour and squealed through the entire experience - I hate when I prove to be such a girl!

My work is STILL challenging. The group of kids (or little fuckers) I have at the moment have huge issues with females in authority so are constantly challenging my every word. Even when it comes to thing like first aid when they actually need my help they refuse to accept it. Funnily enough the only thing they believe without question is tall tales about the land down under. They don't really have any concept as to where it is exactly, their grasp of geography being somewhat lacking (one bloke told me the other day that Britain was in the States because they spoke English there!). To get them back for annoying me sometimes I go about filling their heads with nonsense about Australia so that if they ever visit they'll be warped! So far I have them all believing that we actually DO have a punishment for young offenders called 'The Big Boot,' just like on the Simpsons. I say that Young Offenders, like themselves, in Australia get a choice of serving time or a few kicks from the big boot. Apparently you get a certain number depending on your crime and it's a steel toed one so it really hurts. I reassure them that there is no permanent damage as it's used by trained professionals. The big debate with the crew at the moment is what exactly they would take - the boot or the time?! And then there are the usual tales of no electricity and how my brother used to competetively wrestle crocs as an extra curriculur school activity. And all TV shows that are aired in Australia are dubbed with Australian accents...

And the best activity of all is Austrlaian education nights that I have for the boys where we have quiz's and Australian chocolates for prizes. I've begun playing them Rolf Harris to get them out of bed in the mornings and 'Tie me kangaroo down Jack' has proven the favourite. One guy who truly hates it when I start singing it to him, finds himself beat boxing to it later on in the day which frustrates him to no end. Another bloke sings along to Waltzing Matilda by belting out "Long live Matilda!!" They are endearing boys sometimes.

Beyond my work life, which is pretty damn consuming, I'm trying to see bits of Canada before my time runs out. I did a driving trip out to Quebec to see Quebec City and Montreal and Ottawa, the capital of Canada. I'll put some pictures up for your viewing interest. Check out the one of me in the Ice Hotel in Quebec City! I'm drinking maple flavoured whisky.

Its spring now and things are starting to thaw though its snowing outside as we speak. My favourite Canadiana day occured just a few weeks ago when a mate and I went dog sledding with a friend of a friend. He has a team of about twenty dogs and earns his yearly income by running trips with them during the winter and bottling maple syrup during the spring. We went out to his bush lot and watched him collecting the maple sap (it runs into buckets when the days are above 0 degrees and the nights drop below). He has a big set up of tapping two hundred trees and then boiling the sap into syrup over three fires. It was brilliant to watch. It takes forty litres of sap to make one of syrup. After we'd had a shot of whisky with warm sap, he took us to the dogs where we helped harness them up and then set off into the bush. Its the most fun! I ended up almost wetting myself with laughter and getting chastised by my mate Dave for not balancing properly! I'm not sure that we were the best drivers but bloody hell it was fun! I'll put some photos up of that.

What else can I tell? I have a car, have I written that already. I'll put a photo up of her - shes a Subaru and only squeals when I first start her up. I had to plug her into a power cord during winter as it kept her warm on the really cold nights. I guess the coldest I experienced it here was -35 degrees. You know its getting cold when your snot freezes. Contrary to local belief I did actually survive the winter without getting frostbite though I couldn't sleep out on trip (camping out for about a week with the boys) when it got cold. I'd sleep with a bivvy sack (like a swag) a down filled therm-a-rest, two sleeping bags (an outer rated to -10 and an inner rated to -40), a wool beanie, fleece pants, thermal pants, wool jumper, thermal top and wool socks under my down booties - and I was still cold. These people truly live a different life to the one I grew up in. Its been brilliant getting to experience it but I don't think I could do it every year. I just hate picking out all that frozen snot. It hurts a lot.

I'm quite popular here, everyone loves chatting with me purely because I have an accent. The boys try to train me to speak Canadaian particularly after one guy, the beat boxing one, exclaimed one day in frustration "I WILL NOT BE BRAINWASHED BY AN AUSTRALIAN!" The staff at work, when we're at the pub or wherever, get me to say things in a Canadian accent just to laugh at me - I feel like a pawn in their games of fun! What will I talk about when I get home?

Rightio, I'm going to sign off as this is probably pretty long. I'll try to attach those photos too.
Much love to everyone, especially Colin and Annie.

Me