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!!!