The Dream

After the Thanksgiving weekend, my stepdad Jo left back to Holland. The lectures continued and I was getting back into the normal student routine. I had to catch up with some study material because I didn’t had the chance to study during the trip. It was a bit busy in the following two weeks because there was another visit in the prospect. The visit from someone very special. Someone who has been very supporting during my entire stay in Canada and who I can still proudly call: My Girlfriend, Noëlle.

I didn’t want to spend too much time studying when she would be here, so I tried to do as much as I could on the assignments that were due in the time she would be here. I didn’t mind spending the weekend at home since I made a trip every single weekend since I arrived in Waterloo. The first week in Canada I didn’t see much of the nature and from that point I decided to take every possibility to go and explore the country. Doing so I didn’t spend one weekend at home so it was refreshing to see Waterloo on a Saturday.

As I was preparing for her visit, we both were counting down the days. When she finally arrived it felt like a true dream to finally see her again. It felt so good to have her in my arms again and the first days we simply couldn’t stop talking. The day after she arrived we had a great chance to discover more about the Canadian culture with the so called Halloween. People in The Netherlands do celebrate Halloween but I couldn’t remember the last time I actually cut a pumpkin or dressed up in a scary outfit.

 In Canada Halloween is huge! People spend a lot of time and money to get the best outfit. As some of you might know, I am a huge fan of “theme party” or any other occasions where you can dress up in  a self made outfit..... NOT. This time however, it was different. Noëlle and I both went to the Wallmart and it was a lot of fun to try and find a nice costume. We almost bought Angry Birds costumes but they only had these in kids size. Since I arrived in Canada everyone was calling me “Thor” so I didn’t have much of a choice and was happy to build my own hammer and cut myself a nice cape from my, conveniently, red blankets. Noëlle dressed up as a nurse, in case I would actually hit someone with my hammer ;) The Halloween night could not be a lot worse. It was pouring down rain and very stormy. I felt so sad for all these little kids that waited all year to collect candy.

 We got invited by a friend from my Environment and Business courses: Luke. We arrived a bit late at his house and most of the guys were already drunk. We, completely sober, felt a bit weird at the start but after a few drinks we were all best friends again. We tried to get into one of the clubs in Waterloo. We experienced an interesting bus ride up to Phil’s. It was packed with all these dressed up, drunk teenagers. Just like all the big Canadian nights it was super busy and the line was enormous. It was no option to wait in the rainy storm weather so we decided to go to another smaller bar. After a few drinks and some nice snacks we walked back to our house. With Phil’s on the way back we gave it another shot and we managed to get in. Inside we were so happy that we tried again. They played some old school songs and it was so nice to dance with my girlfriend again. <3

The first weekend I decided to take her up to one of Canada’s wonders: The Niagara Falls. It would be my second time to see it, but like I described last time you just can’t take your eyes off this amazing phenomenon. When I was there a month prior to this visit I climbed one of the high hotels around to see the falls from a higher point. This amazing view had made so much impact that I wanted to spend the night in a room with a view like that. As a surprise I booked a room at Embassy Suites and asked for the highest room. Without knowing if I actually got it we took our stuff to the hotel and found out they put us in the 38^th floor. This was much higher than I expected, because the room description said it would only be between 10^th and 15^th floor. Totally amazed we stepped into the elevator and I started to get Goosebumps when we pressed the “38” button. Curiously we opened the door and I couldn’t believe we were actually staying in this room. Totally amazed by the view we just took two chairs and sat in front of the big window. I was totally flabbergasted and I could only say “Oehhh” and “Ahhhhh!”.

After discovering all our gadgets of the room we had dinner at the restaurant that was located in the same building. It was a steak house and since I hadn’t eaten a real steak since I was here it was time to  cross this one from the list. We both ordered the smallest steak but it turned out to be ENORMOUS! The taste was amazing and while sipping on red wine and looking at the bursting Niagara Falls it really felt like a honeymoon. The next day we drove back and started watching the HBO show: “the pacific”.  A really well documented show about the American navy that fought the Japanese  during WWII.

During the week I showed Noëlle around in Waterloo. Taking her to some classes and showing some of the drawings I made during my course Expressive Drawing. After a week with some small parties and nice dinners we rented a car and drove up to one of my favourite places in Ontario: Bruce Peninsula.

This would be my third time up here but I was still very excited to go. The night before we left it started snowing and this gave the third time a complete new look. The first time I went up to BP it was still the end of summer and all the trees were very green. The second time, It was during Indian summer and most of the trees turned yellow and red giving it a complete new, rough look. This time it was starting to get winter and the white blanket of snow gave the entire trip a complete makeover. The quite busy town during summer was now completely deserted and there was only one Hotel that was open and this was also the only place where we were able to get food. When we came in the hotel we immediately noticed the huge amount of old videotapes. Our room was not equipped with a video recorder but fortunately there was a spare one we could borrow. After dinner we took a while to make the selection for which film we were going to watch. The whole collection turned out to be less exiting than we hoped for but we ended up choosing “The Titanic”. A real classic. It brought back a lot of old memories to use a video recorder because at first I totally forgot to rewind the tape and thought it wasn’t working.

After doing some hikes on the very slippery trails we drove back to Waterloo. The drive back was a bit more adventurous than expected. The moment I decided we should get gas at the next station we drove into this lonely road. Because Canada is so developed I felt so confident in finding a gas station that I did not take any safety  measures and tanked when the tank was still a quarter full. Because of this overconfidence the fear was growing with every kilometre we drove without finding a gas station. It was already dark and it was also very cold outside so we definitely didn’t want to get stuck without gas. We quickly looked at the map and found the first closest town was 20km away. Okay, I was pretty sure that we could make that. When we arrived in this town, it was nothing more than a couple of houses without any sign of a gas station. Now we really lost our inner peace and it was just praying that we would soon get to the highway and gas station. I think I actually never saw the fuel gage that low. It was lower than the empty indicator and I felt very responsible for any drama that might happen. After 20 minutes of stress we were finally released with a small pump.

After the heart rushing ride we came back just in time for a basement party, organised by one of the international students. I missed the previous one because it was during the thanksgiving weekend. This time it was organised way better than the previous one, as I heard from stories. This time there was a DJ and a good sound system and it was a real pleasure to spend a good night with all my friend AND my girlfriend together.

After the party the last days of her visit were gone before I knew it. We spend our last days in Toronto. We did some shopping and discovered the city on a rented bicycle. This was a great way to see more of the city in a short time. It was perfect weather. A little bit cold, but clear blue sky with a warm shining sun. Before I knew it we were on our way to the airport. I couldn't believe this dream was about to end. I enjoyed every second that she was here and it was great to introduce her to all my new friends and show her where I spend most of my time. On the airport it was very hard to say goodbye. Usually I am the one taking the plane but this time it was me that was waving sadly. Now I can understand the hard time I gave my mother when I left for my first trip three years ago.

It was a real pleasure that she was here and it will be another 2,5 months until I will see her again. Today is actually the day that we are together for a year! Let’s hope there will be much more years to come.

Happy New Year!

I am currently in Cuba and it is very hard to get internet access. It already has been a great adventure and it is a beautiful country. I want to wish everyone a happy New Year and I hope that 2014 is going to be a very fruitful, inspiring year. It is hard not to be around the ones I love during this special occasion but I hope I will still enjoy tonight in a cloudy Havana. Next update will be send from Mexico and hopefully I get the chance to fully cover Canada and Cuba.

Lots of love,

Iori

Canada covered in ICE

Hi there peepz!


Happy Christmas to everyone and special congratz to my big Sister Myrthe who turned 26 today.

I'm sorry I didn't updated my blog last week. The delay is caused by some technical difficulties. My charger decided to stop working so my laptop died after 2 hours. Today I went to the computer store and after trying 3 different kind of chargers I tried my own charger again and this time it worked.

Now with a charged laptop here a short update.

Canada is all covered in a layer of ice because of an ice water storm. Everything is covered in 2 cm's of ice and gives a special feeling like Winter Wonderland.

Goodbye
This week I had to say goodbye to Waterloo and all my friend I made there. I gave back the keys and when I stepped out of the door it was the real end of my Waterloo adventure. It was hard saying goodbye to all these friends I made along the way. In such a short time some people became really good friends and I hope I will see them again in the future.

Later this week I will continue the story I didn't finish last week and complete it all the way so it will be a big one next time!

This week I will spend with my Canadian friend Nathan and his family. It is such a blessing that I have been invited to this warm Family. This way I will still have the real Christmas feeling. We are going to eat a Turduckin' tonight(a turkey stuffed with duck and the duck stuffed with chicken!)(btw sorry veggies), and I'm really exited.

I think we are about to leave so I have to finish this quickly.

Happy Days to everyone, I hope you have a great time and think about your loved ones :)

x

Iori

Thanksgiving Weekend Continue

Hi all!

Thanks for all the positive reactions. As promised, here is the weekly update!!

The Thanksgiving dinner was more than I could dream of but the story wasn't finished.

After eating more than even I ever ate we went to "The Boathouse", the guestroom that was provided to us. Both sleeping in a queen bed was very delightful after a night of camping. When we woke up there was a beautiful sunrise across the lake. What a dream place to live I thought, and I dreamed away imagining how it would be to actually live here. You might be far located from everything which would be inconvenient but on the other hand, it brings you closer to nature. Maybe in a couple of decades. First finish this Canadian adventure :)

After a quick shower we were invited to have breakfast. Could we be spoiled more? After an amazing diner the previous day, we had some pancakes with HOME MADE!! Maple Syrup and bacon for breakfast. Impressed by the amazing taste of the syrup(served in Dutch Grolsch bottles btw!) I was very curious about the process of how the syrup is made. I couldn't imagine how. With already some culture lessons from last night I was about to become a real Canadian Culture Expert 2.0 :) Apparently it is made in a similar way rubber is made but under special conditions. First of all it has to freeze about 10 degrees during the night and it has to be above zero during the day for about 10 days in a row for the juice to become sweet and for the tree to give as much juice as possible. This juice is collected in buckets. The juice in this state is actually really fluid and not syrup structure at all, it looks more like water. All this juice is placed in a giant boiler. Here the juice gets boiled long enough for most of the water to evaporate. The ratio between syrup and juice is about 1:60! So thanks again to Tristan’s Family for all the info and I hope I didn’t spoil the family secret now! :o

After the delicious breakfast we hit the road again. We asked for some recommendations to do a bit of hiking across the Manatoulin Island and ended up with some spectacular views! The first hike we did was called “Cup and Soucer”. If you ever find yourself near the Island this is definitely worth a drive and hike up the mountain. After just half an hour we were on top of one of the highest mountains of the island. From here we had one of the most amazing views I have ever seen in my life. Standing on the side of cliffs that are over 100ft (30m) high, Jo got a bit nervous and even I had a bit of wet hands after looking down one of the huge cracks were you could see the ground. The view was just a full spectrum of colours all around. With no cloud in the beautiful blue sky, the gorgeous autumn colours and big lakes that crossed around the horizon I felt like being in a dream. It was maybe good that my camera was low on battery otherwise I was still standing there and making pictures. I could definitely imagine some native Indians owning this mountain. The fact that you were not able to see any men maid buildings gave a complete feeling of the beauty of Canada.

After the little but beautiful we continued to a waterfall. We were just in the right time(or maybe a week to late) to see salmon swimming upstream to lay their eggs. This phenomenon was something I always wanted to see. I remember those documentaries where you see this river through the rough wild nature of Canada full with salmon that are struggling to return to the puddle they were born in. Along the way several salmon would be encountering small waterfalls, here they actually have to jump to get to the next section. This obstacle would be a favourite fishing spot for bears and they would simply be waiting for the fish to jump in their mouth.

So far my imagination.

We got to the falls and without parking our car we were able to see the waterfall in the middle of a small village. The smell of rotting fish came straight up your nose. Just a man made stairs down and you could see the fish that made it to the puddle. It was pretty obvious this was the “end point” since the waterfall was around 60 ft (20m) high. Although most of the fish already made their final journey, there were still some left that were struggling to swim upstream. Maybe less beautiful or picturesque and idyllic than I would have imagined but it was still special and I could cross it out from my bucket list. Haha. Saying this, I probably won’t cross this off until I’ve seen something that comes close to what I’ve seen on the documentaries. These spoiled me for life. PEOPLE DON’T WATCH NATURE DOCUMENTARIES!!!! (joke)

 After this we continued our roadtrip towards mainland. Driving through another very scenic landscape around the Kilarney National Park. It was such a pleasure to drive here. Although we were already driving lots the last couple of days it was still a great pleasure. During our trip I had the great opportunity to discover more about Jo’s life. I have been knowing him for 14 years now, but there were still a lot of questions I never had the chance to ask. Talking the entire trip made our band really strong and gave something maybe more precious than all the beautiful things we saw.

The last evening we were very fortunate and finished our roadtrip in a perfect way.

First we had some troubles finding a camp site that was still open in this late season. Eventually we ended up in one of the provincial parks. This was really in the middle of nowhere. The closest “restaurant” was an hour drive away. This was the only thing where you were able to buy some food. We quickly drove down to the restaurant because it was already getting late. When we entered the “restaurant” the kitchen would be closing in 15 minutes. Very relieved we ordered 2 burgers, basically the only things that they served. After returning to our campsite we were regretting that we didn’t accept the offer of buying some firewood. The night was just perfect for a nice bum fire. Because it was technically still Thanksgiving weekend and with the knowledge of Canadians being the friendliest people, I stepped towards our neighbours and asked if they had some spare wood. Within 10 seconds a huge box full of fire wood was handed over to me with the message to burn as much as I could. He asked if I had any tender to start the fire. Unprepared as I was, I didn’t. He grabbed his axe and started chopping down some of the wood.

Very grateful I thanked him a lot and started making the fire. My inner Bear Grills came out and within a couple of minutes we had our fire up and running. I pulled out the flask I received from some friends in Holland and during the crackling sound of the bum fire the taste of whiskey made the ending of the day, and with this also the trip, legendary! 

The last day it was basically driving home. Saying goodbye was hard, but we had a great time and with a smile in my heart I saw him driving off.

To be continued!!!

p.s. Small update for some recent events:

I finished all the lectures last week and now I am in a week full of exams. I really enjoyed all the courses and thanked all my profs for the great experience and the possibility of having me in their lectures. I’ve made 2 exams this week and I will have my last final this Monday. After my holidays will start and I will have a bit more time to write! I will definitely keep you guys posted J

X

Iori

Winner, winner, Thanksgiving Dinner!

Hi All!

Thanks for all the positive reactions!
I noticed more people started following my blog so I will definitely continue writing in English(Sorry Jolanda).
This site changed since my last blog: Bangkok to Sydney. and leaving a comment is a bit more complicated now. If you have any difficulties, just leave a comment on Facebook :)

I feel really bad that I did not keep you guys posted and that it has been over one month since I last wrote a story for my blog. With the ending of my study period and travel plans in the prospect, I would like to start writing more frequently. I will use my blog as a real blog now. It took so long because I wanted to post a finished story. But if you encounter more and more experiences, the story is never finished. This caused the major delay of any writing on my blog. From now on I'll post every week(maybe more! please remind me if I fail to do so). These stories might be a bit smaller, but it will be more fun for you and for me! I hope you guys are still my faithful followers and are able to read this, so this message will not only be read by the few supporters from back home like my mom. Haha.

Enough of the excuses, here will be a small but legendary story:

Traditional Canadian Thanksgiving
After the great trip to the Niagara Falls my step-dad  Jo came around to visit. His first days were spend around the Falls and after he came around to see where I'm spending most of my time. It was great to see him again and he brought some really helpful attributes from Holland that didn't fit in my regular luggage, like my basketball shoes! These shoes helped me playing in the Intramurals. This is a league for students of the University of Waterloo and can be compared with the: "maandag avond competitie" from TU Delft, but this is for every single sport. We subscribed with a team full of international students. We were a bit ambitious and subscribed for the "advanced" league since we all played basketball before. Eventually we ended up not winning a single game because most of the players were a foot taller or more muscular than any single one of our team.

Back to Jo.
After a short meeting we decided to meet again at the end of the week for a small trip during the weekend and to plan our big trip for the weekend after. We spent our first night in Stratford and had some nice dinner and a few beers in a typical Canadian pub. The next day we drove off to one of the coastal towns around Lake Huron(one of the big 3 lakes). The town was recommended by some friends but because it was out of season it was totally deserted. We found a provincial park nearby and slept in a so called "Yurt". This tent fits 6 people and comes with central heating, beds and is a great way to camp if you don't own a tent. When looking for a place to have dinner we had troubles finding a nice crowded place. When we were super desperate we bumped into this tiny little restaurant called: "Paddington". It had only 12 tables and was completely packed. We were lucky that we managed to get a table. All the food was super fresh and after a nice appetizer we waited for out main course. Just when the main course arrived, this young girl started to play live music. Covers from "Mumford and Sons" to "Coldplay" were played and the entire restaurant was amazed by here voice. After finishing the delicious meal we ended up staying for another hour, just to enjoy more of the great music and ambiance.

On Sunday we did a couple of small hikes through the park and drove back to Waterloo. We made some plans for the following weekend and decided to meet on Friday morning again to start are big road trip.

This week I was busy doing midterms and finishing projects and assignments. Studying here feels really different than what i'm used to back home. Here it feels more like middle school where the teacher basically does everything for you and you have a quiz or midterm every two weeks. I am not sure what I prefer. On one hand it maybe helps you dividing the work and make you study more as you go. On the other hand, I think that you should learn to plan yourself and be mature enough to take care of it yourself since you are studying on a University.

I made some great friends here in Waterloo and one of them was kind enough to invite me to his house for Thanksgiving. I felt very honored, but I wasn't sure if I would be able to accept this offer. It felt like a big burden to bring two hungry dutch men to a traditional thanksgiving dinner. On the other hand, I was really curious and wanted to learn more about the Canadian culture. After asking several times if it was absolutely no problem to join them, we decided to add their home address to our itinerary.

My roommate left for New York on Thursday so Jo was able to sleep in his bed so we could leave early the next morning. We drove up all the way up to Bruce Peninsula, where we would also find a place to camp. The weekend we chose to do our big trip was splendid. All the trees were changing color a magical phenomenon what they call: "Indian summer". This actually already started a week earlier and I was afraid that we would be too late. Fortunately our trip was during it's peak! A couple of trees already lost some of their leaves but this didn't spoil the beautiful scenery full of yellow, red and green. Every mile we drove north we could see the trees becoming more red and more beautiful. You don't have to guess where the national colors or icon comes from.

After spending a night camping and doing some nice hikes we decided to wake up early(6 a.m.!!!) to watch the sunrise. This wild idea reminded me to all those early morning surf sessions, where you feel very shit but also very exited because in the back of your head you know that there is something really nice waiting for you. As we walked to the point where we would see the sunrise we were afraid that we might be too late. It was getting lighter and lighter and fewer stars could be counted. The first bay we thought to be we good for sunrise spotting turned out to be too much north orientated. We walked to the next bay and this gave a wonderful view of the Georgian Bay with small peninsulas reaching from the mainland into the water. Our fear of being to late was really unnecessary since we had to wait for another 45 minutes before the first light beams hit our faces and the beautiful yellow sun could be seen on the horizon.

Before I came to Canada, my sister gave me her old camera. It's a great camera and much better than the one I used in my previous trips. I just started to use the camera and I am starting to figure out all the little tricks to make the most beautiful pictures. As I am practicing on this trip I took many pictures just to try on the first day. Not thinking about the battery life and the length of our trip. During this sunrise the battery indicator told me it was almost empty! It was only 1 day and already was the battery life finished. This is also a part of figuring out a camera, but it was a very unfortunate timing. We had 3 days to go and I was about to see Canada's nature on its best. This however turned into a funny result. Because I never knew when my battery was totally finished I tried to stretch it as long as possible. Only making pictures that I really wanted to and immediately shutting it off after taking the picture without looking at the result. This felt like one of the old school cameras where you are only able to see the result after the pictures are being processed. It definitely boosts the quality of the pictures and reduces the time spend on selecting after! I do have to say special thanks to my sister because the camera has been a real pleasure!!!

Back to our trip.
After sunrise we drove to Tobermori to book our place on the ferry to the Manatoulin Island. We quickly drove to a nice lighthouse before heading to the island. The lighthouse was really tiny but was maintained by a super friendly man who couldn't stop talking about how his family already owned the lighthouse for years. With only a little amount of time we were not able to enjoy all of his stories before heading back to the ferry. The boat was very nice and we had some traditional fish and chips. It was such a great weather, there was no wind and I could just walk around in shorts all day! This was already October!!

After arriving on the Island we drove to my friend's place. It was funny, because his address only existed with a lane name, no number. It turned out that there was only one house on this lane and all the land surrounding it was owned by them. haha. Driving down the lane we ended up on a beautiful house with a small boathouse located right on a lake. It looked beautiful and it would be the perfect setting to retreat for a couple of weeks to write a book or look for some inner peace. After a short meeting with the family we freshened up and prepared ourselves for the Thanksgiving dinner.

The amazing smell of fresh turkey was noticeable from outside of the house. The house was just as beautiful as the nature surrounding it. Tristan and his family gave us a real warm welcome and it definitely confirmed why Canadians are known for being the friendliest people in the world. We started with a nice beer and after a quick appetizer and introduction talk, the feast began. The dinner was including a huge turkey, mashed potatoes, some vegetables and as a finish we had a home made apple pie with ice wine, a Canadian specialty. The dinner was delicious and once again I was very happy that I wasn't a small eater. Every single cell in my body enjoyed being there and saying yes to his invitation was the best decision I made in years!
I tried the delicious ice wine before on the winery tour, but I never drank it as a real dessert wine. It was wonderful and tasted very well with the apple pie. A traditional Canadian night could not be without watching a game of Ice Hockey. The Toronto Maple Leafs where playing and as new fans we started cheering for every goal they made. The leafs won in overtime and gave a nice ending to a more than amazing night.


To be continued!!!

First Month, IN ENGLISH

From now on I will start writing my blog in English. It will be harder for me and I will probably make a lot of mistakes during my writing, but it will be a good exercise and this makes it possible for all my new (and old of course) international friends to read the blog as well.

The first month has been wonderful. I’ve met so many people and I’ve seen a lot of things. It was a bit of a hustle to get all my courses sorted out, but finally after a lot of effort it worked out. I’ve arranged a nice spectrum of courses, that in my opinion will all contribute of being an engineer. They are not only very interesting but some courses are really fun! Because I could choose every single course myself and even had the possibility to switch courses if they turned out to be different than I expected, I am really motivated of completing all these courses and getting the most out of it.

The courses(for the people that I haven’t told yet) I participate in are:

• -        Green Entrepreneurship ( changed from Venture creation and Entrepreneurship)
• -        Industrial Ecology(changed from field ecology)
• -        Social Psychology
• -        Physiological Psychology
• -        Expressive Drawing

The field ecology seemed very interesting but I noticed in the first lecture that it wasn’t quite what I was looking for. You could compare it with biology from secondary school. The level was a bit too low and it wasn’t orientated to industry at all. Every week there was a Lab session. Here you would have to recognise trees, plant seeds and that sort of stuff :P Very interesting of course, when you want to be “the dad” one day, and know all the names of the trees and plants(which is actually quite cool if you could) but I think it would not give a real contribute to my purpose why I am here.

All the other courses were very interesting but different than the courses I’m used to in Delft. The course Venture creation and Entrepreneurship wasn’t possible to do because it was an online course. This was a bit of a turn off because I really looked forward to participate in this course. Eventually I found the replacing course, Green Entrepreneurship. The problem was that at this time the course was already full, so I had to ask permission from the prof.

After a bit of a search I found his office, knocked nervously on the door and on the inside I was praying that he would approve. There was not really a good replacement or anything like this course that would not have interfered with my schedule or that would contain the same contents. He turned out to be a great guy with a very enthusiastic response that he couldn’t refuse a Dutch international student, because his wife was Dutch. I regretted that I didn’t bring one of my traditional Dutch souvenirs but I was really glad that I was enrolled J

The first weeks were really intensive. Finding out about all the new things: Cheap groceries, all the lectures, all the required books and tools, sporting facilities and maybe joining one of the 1000 clubs. Apparently they have a club for everything.

Now I’m settled and getting more used to the Canadian culture and also taking some of the accent(they pronounce the “ou” more like “oo” or in Dutch”oe”, you hear it especially with words like about or out). The weather has been great so far, I was expecting it to be very cold now, but I can still wear my shorts and I’m still walking around on my flip flops. J The housing reminds me a lot of my backpacking experience through Australia. The kitchen is horrible and sharing a room with someone else makes the feeling complete. The sharing of the room however, is less worse than I was expecting. My roommate is a cool guy, we have been drinking beers several times and it is actually quite cosy. It’s also really useful because we share some food and usually eat together.  The kitchen is a real nightmare, compared to this kitchen the one in the JVB(my student house) is like heaven. I gave up after cooking the first meal. I had to turn off the fire alarm 5 times(not because my food was burning!!) and there wasn’t any cutlery. Luckily the kitchen from the second floor is much better. It’s clean and has more the feeling of a living room. We have been cooking there ever since. To make friends I just ended up cooking for everyone. We started some cooking groups where we all take turns to cook.

Although the housing isn’t so good, I am really happy I’ve managed to get a room here. I think I would never have made so many friends in such a short time as I did now. It’s like a big community with international students. There are a lot of nice activities and every night there is an opportunity to party or hang out. This is much better than living in a private and bigger room, but be lonely. The location is also very good, it is right next to campus and I’ve been walking everywhere ever since.  Only for groceries I took the bus. Tomorrow I can pick up my bicycle! I was thinking about buying a longboard but i’m afraid that I am not able to use it after next month because of rainy or snowy weather. I couldn’t find any second hand bike. But after hearing that a friend got one when he asked at the office of the housekeeper, he just got one. Now i’m going to get one, and hopefully it will fit my long Dutch legs :P

Canada’s nature is breathtaking, literally. The first big road trip we(team Holland and a German guy who loves Tim Hortens) made, took us to Bruce Peninsula, one of the local recommendations . It was really gorgeous. It started with the long scenic drive. Everybody was really excited and we’ve had a wonderful day. When we came to our first view of one of the big lakes, we all just stopped talking. It was completely quiet. The water was crystal clear and had a beautiful blue colour. The trees were still very clean and we had chosen a wonderful day with a clear blue sky. For pictures, see facebook. The drive took us a bit longer than expected, and without a place to stay, we were forced to drive back on the same day. We did a couple of hikes through the rough nature of Canada and finally my hunger for nature was fulfilled. Our last hike we almost had to run to be back before all the light was gone. It was unfortunate that we only had such a small amount of time to spend there because I could have stayed there forever. The walk back in the dark was a little tense because they told us there was a bear around. One half of my body wanted to see this amazing creature, but the other half would prefer to see the bear from a safe place.... just from the car or something :p Eventually we only scared each other with some good, really good jokes but we didn’t encounter any bears.

The weekend after we drove down to one of the biggest national parks in Ontario, Algonquin Park. Now with a bit of a different crew, (French guy, 2 Aussies, Dutch girl and me J) we hit the road again. The drive was much longer (6-7 hrs) but now we could spend the night camping. The drive was a bit rough because of all the rain. When we arrived the rain stopped magically. I mentioned that we should start setting up the tent ASAP before it would start raining. Unfortunately I didn’t knock off(afkloppen? Haha), because it immediately started raining again. Camping is great, but setting up a tent in the dark and in the rain is quite hardcore. After having some beers everybody fell asleep because we were so exhausted. The next day we hiked the longest trail so we had the biggest chance on seeing some wildlife. We heard that the Moose are in rutting(mating) season and could be very dangerous. I was convinced we would encounter a moose on our long hike. We tried to call them with our moose call, which just sounds like: MOOOOOOSEEEEEE!!!! But no moose replied and they all left us without any memories of seeing this great animal. The entire day it continued with raining. We cut ourselves some really nice design poncho’s from plastic bags. Now I think about it, this might be the reason we didn’t see any moose, you could see those fluorescent blue bags from miles away! The second night was a lot more comfy and we all had a really good sleep. The next day we did a short hike to a stunning lookout. Again, for pictures check facebook!

The third trip was to one of the world’s most impressive wonders: The Niagara Falls. The trip was arranged by the Federation for students and included a winery tour. The weather was beautiful again and after a two hour bus ride it was time for some serious wine tasting! First they told about how the wine was made and the history from the winery. The most impressive fact was the temperature that is required to harvest (with hand) the frozen grapes from midnight till 5 a.m. This ice wine takes 10 times more grapes than regular wine and therefore is also around 50-100$. After all this new information I got really thirsty and luckily the tasting was about to begin. We first started with a nice white wine and this was followed by a good merlot. We finished with, of course, the ice wine. I was so curious about this well priced product. It was really sweet and felt like silk when swallowed. I would not spend so much money for this kind of dessert wine but it was great to have a taste. After we went inside and I managed to taste some more.

After tasting all these delicious wines, the day was even more beautiful. We had to drive another 30 minutes to get to the falls. We were dropped off in a “Las Vegas like” town. Everywhere you turn your head, you see touristic attraction, fancy hotels and casinos. After a short walk we started to get to the fall area. There was a white mist rising above the edge and I felt a rush of goose bumps when I came closer and closer. I looked over the edge and there it was! It was even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. The overwhelming amount of water was again: breathtaking. When you see the small guys next to it you realize again how small humans are. We could join our international group that was just entering the famous boat: Maid of the Mist. This was, just like all the other touristic stuff, a money machine. But the money machine was more than worth its 15$. I will never forget the local rain that you feel when you get close to the fall. This is made from all the water that is splashing down on the rocks. With all my friends we really encountered and felt the Falls! After we spend the day just walking around the fall and taking pictures, pictures and MORE pictures. I think my camera never shot so many pictures in one day. Once the screen began with: “We have already over a 100 pictures of the same waterfall, would you wish to continue?”.  When we had only 40 minutes left, we decided to try to get on top of one of the fancy hotels. We sneaked in on one of the casino’s and tried our way into the hotel. First we encountered a door that required a “guest card” which we didn’t had. We continued our mission and found some stairs. We walked up to the second floor and found ourselves in a big congress hall and looked for a sign with: “elevator”. These activities gave me a déjà vu when I was with my friend Gilmee in Singapore. This time we didn’t manage to get to the roof but we did end up on a lovely balcony with a beautiful view over the falls. This was the best ending of one of the best days in Canada so far.

So far, my first English blog.

I hope you guys enjoyed it! Please leave a comment.

Cheers!

Iori

First days

Heee homies, vrienden en familie!

hier dan het eerste berichtje vanuit het nog erg zonnige Canada.
Ik zit hier inmiddels een week en het is echt prachtig.
De mensen zijn super vriendelijk en veel dingen zijn hier erg goed geregeld.
Zo kun je hier met je campuskaart gratis met het de bus reizen en gratis sporten op de campus.
De sportfaciliteiten zijn echt gigantisch! Zelfs met zwembad, ijshal en meerder sportscholen.

De eerste week ging verliep niet al te soepel. De security was erg druk en na zo'n 2 uur in allerlei
bussen, metro's en trams werd ik erg warm verwelkomt door wat vrienden die Myrthe had gemaakt
terwijl ze in Japan zat. Onderweg werd ik verbaasd door de compleet andere cultuur.
Iedere hoek heeft een andere fastfood keten en ook de kledingstijl is behoorlijk anders.
Toen ik mijn tas uit het vliegveld kreeg begon ik me gelijk om te kleden want het is hier behoorlijk zomers. Alle Nederlandse cadeautjes die ik had gekregen heb ik natuurlijk allemaal meegenomen. Met de veronderstelling dat de verpakking van mijn hagelslag wel sterk genoeg was had ik hier natuurlijk geen plastic zakje omheengedaan. Na een toch wat ruige vlucht zat hier maar een miniscuul scheurtje wat wel resulteerde in een tas vol met hagelslag. En zelfs nu een week later vind ik nog steeds hagelslag in sommige kleren :P
Echt top!  haha.

De gebouwen zijn prachtig en de rijtjes huizen zijn echt compleet anders dan in NL. geen enkel huis is hetzelfde en ze staan bijna allemaal los van elkaar.
Ik kon de eerste nacht bij Elisabeth blijven slapen waar ik een eigen verdieping kreeg incl eigen douche enzo.
Super chill om even wat rust te pakken.

De alcohol prijzen zijn hier erg hoog, gelukkig wel een stukje minder erg dan in Australië maar ik was op alles voorbereid. Mijn voornemen was dan ook om te "stoppen" zolang ik hier ben. Nou dit voornemen begint al erg goed, want Ian, de man van Elisabeth, brouwt zijn eigen bier en komt 's avonds zelfs met een fles Glenfiddich aanzeten. Dit sla ik natuurlijk niet af en zo begin ik na zo'n 22 uur wakker met een aardige roes aan mijn eerste nacht in Canada. Ik sliep ongeveer tot 4 uur 's ochtends waarna ik iedere 2 uur wakker werd en om 8 uur er toch maar uit kwam.

Ian had me uitgenodigd om mee te gaan naar de bierbrouwerij waar veel mensen komen om hun eigen bier te brouwen. Het scheelt meer dan de helft en het is nog lekker ook!
Erg mooi om alles te zien en mee te kunnen helpen.

Daarna ging ik met Jesse, een andere vriend van Myrthe die het contact ook met Elisabeth had geregeld en de slaapplek, richting zijn familie in London. Een ander dorp zo'n 2 uur rijden met een erg verwarrende naam, vooral omdat er ook een rivier de Thames doorheen loopt. haha.

Erg leuk om een paar dagen tussen de echte Canadese te zitten en ik werd erg warm onthaalt. Ondaks dat niemand me ooit gezien had kon ik overal blijven slapen en mee eten.

De strijd voor gezond eten
Na hier zo'n paar dagen te zijn is het erg lastig om wat gezond eten binnen te krijgen. Junkfood en fastfood is veel goedkoper en makkelijker dan verse dingen. Omdat ik hier natuurlijk erg op gesteld ben was het wel wennen om bijvoorbeeld al te ontbijten met een stuk pizza! haha.

Zo probeerde ik wel op ieder mogelijke manier toch wat groente of fruit te snoepen. Als bedankje voor alle gastvrijheid heb ik op de laatste dag aangeboden om voor iedereen te koken. Een heerlijke pasta was zo'n verfrissing na 5 dagen burgers, pizza en veel vlees. Iedereen waardeerde het super erg en ze konden maar niet ophouden hoe lekker ze het vonden. Het is hier echt super speciaal als je voor iemand kookt dus :P

Nu ik hier helemaal gesettled ben lukt het wel om wat gezonder te eten maar dit kun je alleen maar halen in de grotere supermarkten.

Na zo'n 4 dagen met veel bier(heel veel bier) en veel gezelligheid was het toch tijd om naar mijn eigen kamertje te gaan. Dit was echter iets lastiger dan gedacht door een bepaalde feestdag, labour day, in combinatie met de erg slechte verbindingen tussen de dorpen. De bevolkingsdichtheid is zo dun hier dat er soms maar 2 bussen per dag gaan. Dit in combinatie met de grote afstanden maakt het erg lastig om te plannen zodat ik precies op tijd was om mijn sleutel op te halen. Gelukkig kon ik met een andere vriend van Jesse, Tim, meerijden want hij woont in Kitchener de stad die aan Waterloo grenst.

Waterloo.
Na mijn al super goede ervaringen met de bus probeerde ik het gewoon nog een keer. Tim had uitgelegd dat de bus ieder kwartier ging. Maar na ruim een half uur wachten kwam er eindelijk iemand langs die vertelde dat er tot 3 uur 's middags geen bus ging en dat er wel een andere bus was maar die was zo'n half uur lopen. En dat sloeg ik toch even af met mijn ruim 35 kilo aan bagage :p
Noodgedwongen toch maar een taxi genomen en dan maar even genieten van de luxe dat je voor de deur wordt afgezet.

Ik werd erg goed geholpen en binnen no time had ik de sleutel. De gebouwen waar de studenten verbleven zagen er erg goed uit. Dit waren echter niet de gebouwen waar mijn kamer was :p
Deze zaten achter de mooie gebouwen en na even zoeken kon ik toch mijn verdieping vinden.
Ik wist dat ik de badkamer moest delen en de keuken. Met de Jvb in gedachten zou dit natuurlijk geen probleem worden. Toen ik de deur van de verdieping opende zag ik dat iedere deur een nummer met een naam had. Zoekend voor mijn kamer zag ik dat er boven mijn naam, nog een andere naam stond: Pierre.
haha. Ik dacht ohnee toch. Maar het is waar, ik mag mijn kamer de komende 4 maanden met een andere jongen delen. De kamer is opzich best prima, maar ik was toch erg benieuwd wie deze pierre zal zijn. In spanning pakte ik mijn tas uit en was het afwachten. Na zo'n half uur was ik redelijk geïnstalleerd en had ik alle hagelslagjes ook uit de kamer weten te krijgen. Pierre was er nog niet.

Na wat boodschappen kwam ik terug en begon ik in mijn dagboekje te schrijven. En daar kwam pierre, ik had in zijn boeken al gezien dat hij frans was, maar wat voor franse dude dit zou zijn, geen idee!
Gelukkig is hij echt super chill en hebben we al een paar x in een pub een drankje gedaan.
Het hele complex gaat iedere avond met zijn alle feesten, beerpongen, en daarna uit. We hebben een super leuke groep en ik ken echt al superveel mensen.

Er komt zo een activiteit aan dus ik kan mijn verhaal niet afmaken, maar hier is een begin en er zal snel een update en foto's volgen!

x

iori