Back from Canada! — Page 2

Does anybody else say 'slippy' instead of slippery?

Judy, I definitely say, "Where are you at?" but not so much with the 'what'.

Have you made a snowman yet, Shira?

Hello my darlings!

I haven't been available to update in a while, I've been very very busy, but all with good things!

Friday, not long after I posted, Wendy came back from work (I was supposed to go, but I was sleeping off jetlag), and we went off to the markets. Two markets. First we drove to Houlton, Maine for the foods unavailable in Canada. We go through the border and to the market. Tres exciting! Then we went back through the border (after being in the states for only 1/2 hour), and to the more local market. Lots of food.

Then we went back home and had an awesome dinner. Anyone ever heard of "Chinese Fondue"? Great, neither had I. Basically, we put chicken and beef broth in the fondue pot, and cut up vegetables and we had picked up very thinly sliced chicken and beef from the butcher. Then we put the veggies and/or meat on the fondue stick and put it in the broth, where it cooks, and then we dipped it in various sauces of Teriyaki, Soy, Cherry, and Ginger. It was really good.

Then we went to the gym (which I hate, but figured I needed to do), and that was very exciting, don't you know? But I did a good workout, and was very proud of myself. We came back and hit the hay.

Yesterday, Saturday, I woke up earlyish, and ate a bit of breakfast. Then Wendy and I trudged (or sludged) our way through 2.5 miles of snow. It was really fun and REALLY exhausting. I took lots of pretty pictures though! I'll post them when I return.

So this walk of ours...we walked mainly on flat snow for a while, but then we slid down a hill and walked UP a hill, which made me realize how gosh-darn out of of shape I really am. We laid down in a field, followed my rolling down a hill. Heh, it took me a while to orient myself, I was so dizzy. Then we walked back to this hill we had slid down, climbed up, and slid again. It's fun! And then we walked back. Heh, I didn't realize how tiring it was until I came back. And damn, I was almost too tired to eat! But I did anyway.

We left about 2 hours later for Fredericton,(the 50 minute drive),and picked up a kid named Andrew and we all went to Fredericton where Wendy and Andrew had rehearsal for a recital, and there was a song called "Through Hands". It is a beautiful song. It sounds like "Jane Eyre" meets "The Secret Garden" with the undertones of "Jekyll and Hyde" with a dash of Sondheim. It's quite haunting and darkly pretty. Then we had dinner at a Greek restaurant called Panos and drove back.

We dropped Andrew off and went to the only liquor store in New Brunsick, and I could buy my own alcohol! Heh, that makes me happy! So Wendy and I also stopped and picked up ice-cream and we made some very yummy drinks. Also, there was a butterscotch vodka and vanilla creme liquor shot thingy that we had bought which was really to good for it's own good. We had many drinks, and I hadn't realized how they affected my system until we realized that our feet were not cold at all because of the liquor. Ahh, good times. We watched "Eloise at the Plaza" with Gavin Creel, and then part of "Lilo and Stitch" until I was almost falling asleep, so I hit the sack. Oh, and we devoured a pizza. It was a great night, and I deserved it!

Woke up this morning (feeling perfectly fine, thankyouverymuch. No hangovers for ME!), and had breakfast. Then we drove to Fredericton AGAIN for a different rehearsal. That would have been fine had we literally not been sitting around almost the entire time. Wendy was only being productive for 10 minutes, and it's a 1 hour, 40 minute round-trip drive. Not so happy. So we drove back, and Dave (her husband), had steaks ready for us when we got back. VERY yummy, lemme tell you.

So now, it's almost 7:30. Wendy is going to teach a voice lesson (I think), and then we will probably hit the gym, and we may or may not see "Hitch" later tonight. Who knows. It is very cold tonight, but that's okay. I brought all the proper clothing!

So that's my life thus far. I've been having an amazing time here, just living life. I mean, I'm not doing anything amazingly out of the ordinary, if you think about it, but I'm just happy here. I'm not moving here, but this is a great vacation for me.

Tomorrow I'll go to the office and update again, because I have nothing else to do there. LOVE YOU ALL!

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There are plenty of liquor stores in New Brunswick. New Jersey. But not in New Brunswick, [the province of] Canada.

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Really? Weird...I was told there was one store. It's the New Brunswick Liquor Store or something like that around Fredericton. Maybe that's just the main one or something? Okay, I'm just darn confused now. What are the provincial policies on Alcohol?

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Maybe that's why I got confused. It's a chain. Okay! For some reason, I remember her saying this was the main liquor store. I think I'm hearing things now. And I'm not even drunk!

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I guess it's because it's the same name, and with all these trees, everything looks the same! Oh well, silly mistake.

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each province is in control of all the alcohol sold in its borders- hence only one liquor store in New BrunswicK!

I guess there are many stores of the same name "New Brunswick Alcohol", because their products are distributed at the discretion of the province?

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I did...thus my understanding above.

Well, either way, I was happy and drunk later.

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Sounds like you're having too much fun. Butterscotch vodka and vanilla creme liquor...yum! Any snow angels yet?

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HIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII Everyone!

Wow, two days without BWW...I was feeling light headed!

So I went skiing. I tried, anyway. We got there at 2:30 and they're like "We close at 4:30", so we only had two hours, which was perfect for me, because, to put it mildly, I can't ski. Sure, I can slide down, etc... But it ain't graceful, let me tell you! I went down the bunny slopes a couple of times, and then Wendy said this hill, which was intermediate, wasn't too steep. Uh, no...I went FLYING! And not in a good "yummy vodka happy" flying either. No, this was skiing down a hill way faster than I can think about and SCREAMING like a mad woman. I was freaking out - fortunately, I just kept skiing and turning, because I had to stop at one point, and I didn't want to it to be into a tree. I swear, I didn't think I'd die, but I was going very fast. Thank goodness the slopes were virtually empty, otherwise I would have collided. But everyone was laughing and I explained that I was the entertainment for the afternoon. Oh, and I got stuck in between two slopes. How, I don't know. But one ski went one way, one went the other, and I didn't fall, but I couldn't move. Yay for ski patrol who was like "WTF is this person doing?" and I kept skiing afterwards. Hah. It was really fun, and now my legs hurt.

I got back, and Wendy and David insisted I use the tub, which had jets and all that jazz. We ran out of hot water, so they boiled water so I could use the bath. Hah, it was incredibly amusing, I think. It was a great bath, but boiling water? Yay bubbles...

So I woke up this morning, and packed up and took my tequila with me (it's called Baja Rosa, coffee and chocolate flavored tequila), anyone would have done the same! Then we drove to the airport, which is an 1.5 hour drive, and that was that. I never showed my passport through all the border patrols, which I find amusing. I think they were sick of me at the end of my trip, so it was good to go - not that I wouldn't have stayed - but as my aunt says "Houseguests are like fish. After 3 days they start to smell."

But I had such a great time in Canada. SO many trees. SO many trees. I mean, I didn't know so many trees existed. I thought there was a lot of nature in Yosemite and in Santa Barbara wine country. Nope, lots and lots of trees. And I understand the appeal of Tim Hortons (though people have hired cabs to deliver the coffee which is weird). Trees. Trees. But it was beautiful and fun and I enjoyed it so much. But all in all, it's also good to be home. I also picked up a DVD of "On A Clear Day..." with Babs. Another movie for me to see. Yay!

And my flights were fine. I watched "Sideways", and that was about it.

So I'm home...and DGrant, put a certain movie in the VCR...I'm coming over!

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