a busy first weekend

Here are a a few pictures from our first weekend here in Nanaimo.

First off, the weather was absolutely fantastic, couldn't be better.

Hot, but not humid during the day and gorgeous skies and sunsets at night.

I'm still waiting for the miserable wet cold dreary days that the West Coast is famous for, but this will do for now.

Friday night we went to our first (ice) hockey game, the Nanaimo Clippers Game!!

They played against the Victoria Grizzlies and lost terribly.

We sat right up pretty much to the glass so we saw lots of action and body checking and even a few fights, which I thought were pretty lame considering one guy just nudges the other and then suddenly they erupt into war, gloves and masks off.

There's a women's hockey league too which would be great to see. I'm thinking about joining a league too but don't know how my skating skills are after years of living in hot climates.

Anyway, there are some pics of us wolfing some pre-game food, the obligatory bbq hamburger and 'poutine' (fries, gravy, curds) .. but a very lame excuse for a poutine it was. It should be real St. Albert curds but instead they drip this bright orange hot cheese over the fries.

Still, it was surprisingly tasty.

Here is a picture of us having our first home- cooked meal. For the first week, our stove didn't work so Karen had another one delivered to us on Thursday. We ate our chicken curry and couscous meal sitting floor-style since we didn't have a table. Still, this place feels like a palace after living in Foxy for several months.

On Saturday morning we drove about an hour south to Cobble Hill to visit a used dealership and put an offer in for a Nissan Pathfinder. Pending the mechanic inspection this week, it's pretty much ours.

Then we went to see some houses with our realtor. He took us out to lunch to a British-style pub about 20 min from town. It was unbelievable how authentic the whole thing was. They were even advertising the 2009 Coronation Street calendar just in!

We never managed to get around to having a pub lunch in Jersey, but we definitely didn't think we'd be having one here! It was the 'real stuff' and the freshly-baked blueberry pie was just the right finish. I have to admit I did find myself missing the Jersey cream accompaniment though.

On Sunday I went to my first hot yoga class, a good long SWEATY session. Matt tried out for the Nanaimo soccer team and got short-listed for the team.

I then had lunch with a member of the Multicultural Society of Nanaimo (she does immigrant and settlement work there) and after lunch she took me to introduce me to the President of the Chinese Association of Nanaimo, Angela.

Angela just happened to be hosting a big dumpling making-and-eating party and told me to come along later with Matt.. so we did. We met a lot of interesting people from China, HK, Taiwan, and Canadian-born-Chinese folk.

It was great to practice Mandarin again and eat homemade jiaozi. Good connections too, which is what small-town living is all about!! :D

Work hunting is going well, I've been meeting a lot of people from different organizations, and making those necessary contacts.

I want to give myself at least another week+ and see what my options are. But so far so good. It is infinitely easier than in Cape Town where I didn't have an official work visa; here I can at least start immediately.

So it's Monday again. I'm going to Vancouver on the 8:30am ferry to see Canada Customs and sign for our shipment. It should be delivered here by mid-week, fingers crossed. We've rented a storage space for now and will just take the necessary boxes into our little apartment here. I'll see my Kowpo and Kowgong (Dad's aunt and uncle) for lunch too, it's close to Chinatown so I assume another heavy duty dimsum session will be in order! :)