Ralf (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} canada_ralf) wrote,@ 2004-10-18 20:07:00 |
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A Preserved Man In Canada.
In the beginning……….
In the beginning Ralf went to Canada, and stayed with some of his parents friends who had the Internet but it was quite difficult to get to it so Ralf’s online journal suffered. However then Ralf moved out, and is now living with some students who have broadband, allowing Ralf to update every tedious aspect of his new life in Canada. Enough of the third person.
I do apologise for not updating me journal. I have’t felt so apologetic since I went to a friends funeral, his parents said “thankyou so much for coming” and I said “its my pleasure”I am flattered that you are interested in finding out what I am doing. Since my last entry I have got a job in the local mall of Guelph at a chocolate shop called Laura Seacord (Canada’s premiere chocolate shop since 1902) However in 2000 it went bust when the stock market took a plunge and was bought by an investment group, I am not sure if that still makes it premiere? Anywho its good work, I know how chocolate is made, and more especially truffles as that is what the shop specialises in. Did you know it takes three days to make a truffle? A different day for each layer of it. Its good work, and good fun and everyone loves my accent, bizarrely mistaking it for Australian. Everyone is keen to ask were I am from and when I say it, they are keen to know if I am friends with “my cousin earl and his wife Bobby Joe, who moved there after the war” “were are they” I would ask “I don’t know we had a big falling out forty five years ago” Anyway it’s usually like that. Most Canadians believe that England is still a land of fog and Dickens and men with good manners strolling around London. Or as one Chinese lady put “I have some impression of the English, that they are very preserved”
I have done a bit more travelling, only to Kitchener to go the October Fest, which is second only too the one in Munich. It’s a week long festival in which the inhabitants of this small town get drunk for a week and embrace their German heritage (minus the events of 1939 – 1945) I went during thanksgiving Monday to see the parade which was presided over by Paul Martin (prime minister of Canada) I had my first ever thanksgiving weekend, and its good! Pumpkin pie is so nice, believe it or not. There is so many spices in it, I couldn’t tell you what pumpkin tastes off. Also had the turkey, yams, stuffing, vegetables and it was washed down with Canadian wine, which is surprisingly nice. Thanksgiving in Canada is a few weeks before the one in the states, and is not as big, I guess everyone is not as thankful.
As I stated, I have moved too a new house, with three other students who attend the university. It’s the normal student house, huge basement, large kitchen, two reception rooms, un-suit accommodation, air conditioning and electric garage. It’s a hard life. Rent is $340.00, which is about £130.00 a month. The only disadvantage is that it’s a way out of Guelph so it’s a fifteen-minute bus ride to the mall and the city centre. It’s getting used to the size of Canada, which is difficult. Guelph has a population of 97,000 but the size of the buildings and roads means it’s far bigger than anything of comparable size in England. It would probably take about a day to walk from one side to the other. The night life is good, although Canadian beer tastes like piss and water, a heady mix (I suppose the only people who like it are those of use who like water sports, especially in showers or aquatic settings) You can get in huge glasses, a two pint glass cost $4.50. You also can’t smoke in public places, so it means that when you come home you don’t smell like you have been to a 3rd degree burn ward.
Anyway having a good time so far and I am planning a trip to Toronto in the next few days, and then Ottawa were I am hoping to get tickets to watch a session in parliament. The weather is starting to turn, it should drop to about –25 by January. Its hovering around 10 degrees, but with a freezing wind which means your testicles gradually end up around your ears, possibly explaining why most people who live in colder countries have hair out of there ears.
In the beginning……….
In the beginning Ralf went to Canada, and stayed with some of his parents friends who had the Internet but it was quite difficult to get to it so Ralf’s online journal suffered. However then Ralf moved out, and is now living with some students who have broadband, allowing Ralf to update every tedious aspect of his new life in Canada. Enough of the third person.
I do apologise for not updating me journal. I have’t felt so apologetic since I went to a friends funeral, his parents said “thankyou so much for coming” and I said “its my pleasure”I am flattered that you are interested in finding out what I am doing. Since my last entry I have got a job in the local mall of Guelph at a chocolate shop called Laura Seacord (Canada’s premiere chocolate shop since 1902) However in 2000 it went bust when the stock market took a plunge and was bought by an investment group, I am not sure if that still makes it premiere? Anywho its good work, I know how chocolate is made, and more especially truffles as that is what the shop specialises in. Did you know it takes three days to make a truffle? A different day for each layer of it. Its good work, and good fun and everyone loves my accent, bizarrely mistaking it for Australian. Everyone is keen to ask were I am from and when I say it, they are keen to know if I am friends with “my cousin earl and his wife Bobby Joe, who moved there after the war” “were are they” I would ask “I don’t know we had a big falling out forty five years ago” Anyway it’s usually like that. Most Canadians believe that England is still a land of fog and Dickens and men with good manners strolling around London. Or as one Chinese lady put “I have some impression of the English, that they are very preserved”
I have done a bit more travelling, only to Kitchener to go the October Fest, which is second only too the one in Munich. It’s a week long festival in which the inhabitants of this small town get drunk for a week and embrace their German heritage (minus the events of 1939 – 1945) I went during thanksgiving Monday to see the parade which was presided over by Paul Martin (prime minister of Canada) I had my first ever thanksgiving weekend, and its good! Pumpkin pie is so nice, believe it or not. There is so many spices in it, I couldn’t tell you what pumpkin tastes off. Also had the turkey, yams, stuffing, vegetables and it was washed down with Canadian wine, which is surprisingly nice. Thanksgiving in Canada is a few weeks before the one in the states, and is not as big, I guess everyone is not as thankful.
As I stated, I have moved too a new house, with three other students who attend the university. It’s the normal student house, huge basement, large kitchen, two reception rooms, un-suit accommodation, air conditioning and electric garage. It’s a hard life. Rent is $340.00, which is about £130.00 a month. The only disadvantage is that it’s a way out of Guelph so it’s a fifteen-minute bus ride to the mall and the city centre. It’s getting used to the size of Canada, which is difficult. Guelph has a population of 97,000 but the size of the buildings and roads means it’s far bigger than anything of comparable size in England. It would probably take about a day to walk from one side to the other. The night life is good, although Canadian beer tastes like piss and water, a heady mix (I suppose the only people who like it are those of use who like water sports, especially in showers or aquatic settings) You can get in huge glasses, a two pint glass cost $4.50. You also can’t smoke in public places, so it means that when you come home you don’t smell like you have been to a 3rd degree burn ward.
Anyway having a good time so far and I am planning a trip to Toronto in the next few days, and then Ottawa were I am hoping to get tickets to watch a session in parliament. The weather is starting to turn, it should drop to about –25 by January. Its hovering around 10 degrees, but with a freezing wind which means your testicles gradually end up around your ears, possibly explaining why most people who live in colder countries have hair out of there ears.
