Seattle and back again!

Its been a busy week in the world of Simon. A busy week but the best ive had in a very long time :) Ok so where do i start... First of all im quitting my job at the bowling alley its rubbish! Starbucks is good tho they're very organised! and the people i work with are lovely, im getting to meet some real canadians too which is part of the reason i came here! The only downside so far is the fact that i have to work a 430 am shift on wednesday! argh! still, its only one day though so i hope ill cope.

Vancouver this week has been pretty quiet, as our collective funds run dry we find going out less popular and sitting in the hostel playing pool more popular :) But its really starting to feel like my home now, its pretty easy for an englishman to adapt over here. One thing weve started doing is playing on this drum machine at the arcade. It all started because its next door to the pub and after a few beers you quite fancy hitting something with a stick but we're all adicted now, well, me and andy are everyone else just thinks we're a bit mad. Its my ambition to be able to play "Super shomin car" on expert by the end of the year. Oh yeah, thats the only downside, the game only has a bizarre selection of J-Pop!!

Last weekend me and Ellie took the short trip across the border to Seattle! Seattle is nice, kinda like Vancouver but a little smaller, and less friendly! You can really see the difference between canadians and americans, so when we came back to Vancouver it really felt like home! I think we appreciated where we live more when we came back. We had a superb time, with the highlights being the space needle (big pointy thing) music experience project (really cool place, they even let u practice on all sorts of instuments and give u tutorials of how to play) and this really posh restaurant. It was probably the best place ive eaten, voted the number 1 italian restaurant in seattle! But the best part was just being able to spend some time with Ellie :) Even though I can't speak any Swedish i feel like jag förstår perfekt what shes thinking. And she can understand my accent better than the canadians so she has to translate for me sometimes :)

Anyway thats all i have time for today, except for a few pictures from Seattle, hope everyone is well!
Simonx

(Me and Ellie - for those who havent met her yet!)

(Downtown Seattle)

(The Space Needle. The biggest and pointyist thing in Seattle)

(a load of guitars in the music experience project)

(the famous Seattle Public Market)

Boldly going where no bowling alley attendant has gone before

Movement on the job front today as ive got myself not one but two jobs! The first, i started on Monday, possibly the most bizarre job ive ever had at a bowling alley made in the 1930's called Commadore Lanes. I work for 3 chinese guys none of which can speak particularly good english. You'd thing my job wouldnt be so complicated, but im going to my third shift tomorrow and im in my myself, having to cash up the tills, fix the lanes (which break at least once every 30mins), clean the place, and work on two tills. Bit of a nightmare job really, but when your desperate for money what can u do :)

I also heard today that im starting at one of the 4 million starbucks in vancouver (seriously in a city the size of leeds theres probably about 50!!). This jobs probably going to be a bit better and for getting the job Ellie gets $50 for refering me which is excellent! Still looking for a "proper job" though. if i could get some marketing work id be looking at $12-18 per hour as opposed to $8.

The most rediculous thing did happen today though. Half way through my shift walked in a bald man with a dodgy Canadian accent wearing scruffy clothes asking where the pool tables were. I pointed him in the right direction and noticed he really looked like Patrick Stewart aka Captain Jean Luc Picard! The girl i was working with thought it definantly was so i went over and asked. He shook off his dodgy Canadian accent that he was obviously putting on and chatted away to me for 5mins. Not what you expect in a shoddy run down bowling alley on one of the scruffiest looking streets in Vancouver!! He seems a nice fella but soon left when i noticed who he was. Unfortunately he didnt tip me for his bottle of water but ill forgive him for that :)

Managed to make $20 tips today though which will go towards the Seattle fund! I've heard from reliable sources (Stenhouse) that its a great place but i think im more excited about who im going with rather than where im going :)

Anyway time for bed, leave some more comments itll give me something to read :)
Simonx

Killers, Job Interviews, and Drunkenness, its been a fun week!

(the view of Vancouver was nearly as Beutiful as Wharton Park)

Greetings everyone, well im soon to start my second week here and things are looking up! Firstly i have a job interview on monday at the bowling alley (dont laugh!). This wouldnt be so bad if it didnt pay $8 an hour and include working with 3 other people, none of whom speak any english thats better than "hello Mr. Farting" (in a dodgy chinese accent). But hopefully ill get the job and start to make some well needed money!! Ive had an online interview for a shop thats pretty much the same as Dixons, that pays $12 an hour so would be much more like it (just half your dollers to get your pounds).

We've had some cracking nights out this week with the best being on Friday! We went to a place called Gastown which is about 30mins walk from my hostel (we havent worked out how to use the buses yet!) and got some food and a few pints. When i say pints, i mean Canadian pints. Theyre about the same as 3/4 of a pint in our country (rubbish!). After that we went off to a bar and sat there from about 9pm til about 2am resulting in much drunkenness. Cockney Andy briefly fell in love with Ellie's Swedish friend Sanja until he later found out she was leaving the country in 2 days time (which was a complete coincidence by the way). Saturday was a bit of a write off :)

The highlight of the week though has to have been The Killers on Thursday night! They were great and a good time was had by all (all, being me and Ellie!) She has some pictures on her Camera so i'll have to steal them and put them up! As im stuck in the hostel for 2 and a half more weeks (which feels like the rest of my life!) i've decided to make the short 4 hour trip down to Seattle! Im going next Saturday morning and coming back on the Sunday night and taking Ellie with me. I can't wait! :)

Thats about all ive got time for today, hope everyone is well back at home. If you get bored say a little hello

Simonx

Us lot!

Here's a nice picture of the gang. Of course, in an English theme bar. I'll post some more pictures later.

Greetings from Vancouver - Along with the most cheesy picture i could find

So, why Vancouver? People always ask me that. My answer is the same as everyone elses who ive met here. Why not! No one really knows why theyre here but we're all having a great time finding out!

Well, its day 9 in Vancouver and on the advice of cockney andy ive decided to start one of these blog things. They seem pretty cool and its a bit of a change from just writing emails all the time. So where do i start...? The people, i flew over (as many of you know) with 40 other "BUNACers" doing the same thing as i am. 9 days on theres about 10 of us left, we're a pretty close knit group at present. Unforunatly ive managed to make friends with 3 people called andy as well as another guy we know called andy, so we've decided to label them "cockney" "bagpipes" "hula hoops" and "andrew" for obvious and not so obvious reasons. The rest of the group are mainly guys but theres a couple of girls thrown in there for good measure, as well as Ellie, a Swedish girl who's been here for 4 months. Shes very nice, maybe ill write more on her later :)

Being true english, we've managed to meet no Canadians whatsoever, i think thats partyly because they dont understand a thing I say. We also tend to stick to the english and irish pubs, dont want to make too big a cultural jump at once do we? ;) I went out the other night with a glaswegian and a guy from aberdeen. I swear they thought we were speaking german :) Seriously though, the canadians all seem nice, im sure we'll start meeting some when we get jobs. Talking about jobs, i dont have one! Its about the only thing thats really unsettling me at the moment, and if i dont have one in a couple weeks, ill be on the plane back home! Im sure itll sort itself out soon tho. If not one of you will have to claim the dole on my behalf :)

I do however have a house! Its great and close to the beach which'll be great for the summer. Also, all my mates live nearby so thats cool. Have to slum it in a hostle for 3 more weeks though before i can move out which is a bit of a nightmare! Or perhaps an "aid to personal development" depending which way you look at it :) Im off to see the Killers with Ellie tonight so dead excited about that!

Hope everyone at home's well, feel free to leave a comment if you get that bored :)
Simon