Birthdays, Ice pools and Parties

Apologies for the lack of posts over the last week! Uni has started to get pretty full on and weekends are filling up with activities (which is a good thing). Where I left off was Sunday night after doing the Grouse Grind, which left me tired for a couple of days and the 30 minute commute to uni is not very inspiring! However, the following Monday was Charlotte's birthday so we had a house dinner. I made a cake which said "Joyeaux Annivesaire Charlotte xo" which means Happy Birthday in French. 

On Friday, Charlotte, Flora, Rebecca and I went to Lynn Canyon, which is about an hour and a half public transport journey from home. A bus, then the Seabus and then another bus. The journey is worth it however. It is a National Park and entry is free (unlike the much hyped about Capilano suspension bridge) . There is a natural pool and the water was freeeeeezing!! Literally melted ice off the mountain behind. However, we all got in!! Wouldn't say it was 'swimming', more just ducking under haha.

Saturday night we had our housewarming party. The theme was United Nations so everyone had to dress as a different country (not our own) and bring a bottle of alcohol from that destination. I went as South Africa, you can see in the photos there was a large range of costumes! The night was a success, which meant a big clean up on Sunday morning.

I have been pretty busy with uni this week so not much else has happened. My friend Jess from Perth arrived on Tuesday night. She has been travelling in the US for 3 months and will stay here for 2 weeks. Tomorrow we are going to Victoria for the weekend together which I am really looking forward to. Photos to follow!!

The Grind

Today Charlotte and I tackled "the Grouse Grind". Grouse Mountain lies just north of Vancouver city. The Grouse Grind is a 2.9km trail up the face of the mountain, which consists of 2,830 stairs and elevated 853 metres upwards. We completed it in one and a half hours, the record for a female is 31 minutes...which is crazy!! Although they are described as "stairs", much of the hike is rugged rock face which you have to climb up. Once you begin, you can't turn around and go back the mountain. When we first started I was thinking, what have I got myself into?? However, when you reach the summit there is such a feeling of satisfaction and achievement!

At the beginning, you can see Grouse in the background.

The jumper is off, but I am still smiling!

Half way!

Three quarter mark!

I made it!

View from the summit

The zipline at the Summit

Park gardens, Chinese gardens and Vegie gardens!

Yesterday I rode around Stanley Park, you can hire bikes for about $12 for two hours. The view of the mountains and the sea was amazing. Unfortunately I thought I had forgotten my camera (then found it later in the bottom of my bag grrr) so I didn't take any pictures. Maybe google image search 'view from Stanley Park' if you want to know what I am talking about haha. On the way home the bus passes through Chinatown and I got off at the stop outside the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. This traditional chinese garden is situated right in the heart of Chinatown and the Down town area. It was built in 1985, with 100% of the materials used brought over from China, to ensure it was as authentic as possible. The garden represents how an Ancient Chinese scholar's house and garden would have looked like. To become a scholar in ancient China you had to study for many, many years. Scholars would then live in a house in regional China with up to 200 other people (close relatives, relative's families, servants etc.) The scholar had to stay at the house 365 days of the year, and they lived here for 7-10 years. Therefore the garden of the house was created to represent the natural environment outside the walls of the Scholar's house; so the Scholar would never feel that he was missing out on the outside world. To reflect the Chinese culture, the entire garden in Vancouver was designed through Feng Shui theories. Therefore everything is in its place for a reason and there are multiple metaphors and symbols behind the placement. In ancient China, all the buildings, towns and cities were developed by Feng Shui practitioners. Nowadays they are called architects or town planners. I thought that was pretty cool!

This morning I went to the farmer's market at Trout Lake, it is about 5 minutes down the road via bus. The market took place in the carpark which backs on to a beautiful parkland and lake. It was full of people this morning; cyclists, families and people walking their dogs. I made a roast vegetable lasagne this afternoon with the produce I bought this morning, hopefully it will last me a week of dinners!

Trout Lake...and the biggest bulldog I have ever seen!



Home Sweet Home

I have been quite busy this week with uni, which is going well so far! Here are some pics of the house, there are so many cool details everywhere and the place has such a nice feel about it. You can see the mountains from the front porch! I have finished uni for the week and the weather is still really nice here so tomorrow I might ride around Stanley Park, and then try check out the local farmer's market on Saturday morning. Enjoy!

House pantry

Notice board!

Backyard with vegie patch

Front porch

View from front porch 

Other end of front porch



My end of the room



Photos displayed in my room