Basically your standard old blog I guess. About my life here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Maybe some Flashback posts about when I was living in the Philippines. And whatever else I can think of putting here.
A couple of days later, Winnipegers attempted to break the record for longest human chain (on skates). The city recently took the record for longest skating rink (made official just a few days ago)., so there was a perfect place to try it. Last I heard they had enough people but it hasn't been made official yet. The current record is held By Mexico City (imagine that...).
As it turns out, my HR manager is on vacation. So toyota credit still hasn't been able to contact her. That's probably a non-factor though, since Toyota credit now wants us to come up with a down payment of $5000. That's something we just don't have. The other option is to go to a bank instead. However, that will most likely mean higher interest rates that's gonna push up our monthly fees. Now I begin to wonder why people keep telling us to buy a car already as if it was a piece of cake. Even when I just started working some people were telling us to buy a car. I got the feeling that they thought I was weird for not doing so sooner. Others even seem really affected by my hesitation because of my perceived "good income". A few even seemed angry. It gets annoying sometimes. HELLO!!?? IT'S MY MONEY!!! I just don't get it. This has been a frustrating experience. Oh well, we'll see what the banks have for us.
On another note, it's starting to get cold. It's was 7 degrees C this morning. I had to wear a jacket. I guess we're in the fall season now.
Today we went to the park for a Couples for Christ fellowship. Weather reports said that it would be 38 C (feels like 44 - due to humidity maybe?). It sure did feel like the Philippines. The sun was out and, since we played a little badminton, I was sweating just like back home. The park seemed like a very nice place to walk around but I wasn't tempted to leave the shade. Weather reports also say that there are going to be more days like this coming up. So in case people wonder why I'm getting darker while I'm in North America, there you go.
On another note, here's a little pic of a view from our apartment
Yup, someone wants Flor.
Yesterday, we were finally able to go to The Ex at the Red River Exhibition Park. This is when the park is transformed into an amusement park for around 3 weeks. So you have your usual extreme rides, kiddie rides and everything in between. Of course there are also games, shows, shopping and food.
We don't have a car yet so we had to take the buses the city provides specifically for the event. Plus I hate driving right now. We already took this bus on Friday from Polo Park, which is roughly half way there and it was really packed in the bus. So for today we decided to catch it at the start of the route. As expected the bus was filled-up very quickly. The bus driver didn't even bother to stop at Polo Park and after.
When we arrived, there were long lines. Good thing we already had tickets (ride-all-you-can). When I got in, the first thing I noticed were dogs practicing in an obstacle course. They have dog shows at certain times of the day. It wasn't time for that yet so we went for our first ride. We picked the drop of fear.
I was trying to scream like a little girl but I lost my voice halfway down.
After that we found that the dog show had started. There wasn't much room anymore so we didn't stay long. Here's some of what we saw.
I really wanted to see them go through the arches/bars.
What they lack in skill they make up with slapstick humor.
They also had a reptile show. There was no show at the time we were there but there were big snakes and crocs/alligators(?) on display.
Our next stop was the Giant Slide. I remember that back in the Philippines, we slid down using rice sacks.
This is called the Slingshot. We didn't ride it because it's $25/person. Maybe next year (with a lot of convincing from Mean).
After this we rode the smaller of 2 Ferris wheels. I think this was meant for kids, but whatever.
Then there was the petting zoo. I finally got to go to one after seeing them in US movies and TV shows.
Time to eat. Of course we have to have a hotdog. The other one's a candy apple.
What do you do after eating? Ride the Fireball of course!
Yeah, little girl.
Mean wanted to ride the Carousel. Not me :)
Time to ride the other Fireball. Mean was able to ride this 2 years ago. She really liked it and convinced me it would be fun. I hate her...
It was actually fun but when I got down, I needed to find a place to sit. I know, what a wuss.
I needed a break so we rode the big ferris wheel. It was meant to be a relaxing ride to relieve my dizziness but the idiot dad we were with was teasing his son by shaking the gondola. But yeah, I know, relieving dizziness by riding the ferris wheel isn't really smart.
After that, I no longer wanted to go on any "extreme" rides. I was dizzy and had a headache. I was feeling guilty since Mean still wanted to go. Well, she didn't let my wimpiness stop her from riding the Zipper. She would just have to find another person who was alone or the odd one out in a group because they didn't allow people alone in a compartment. Thankfully there was a guy right in front of us who was by himself. Apparently, all his friends were throwing up somewhere. He also didn't know about the 2 rider policy. Good for him and Mean.
That was the last ride. We were in the park for about 6-7 hours. However, we had to leave because of...
Bad Weather
While we were waiting in line, a guy was going around telling people that a thunderstorm was coming and there was a lot of wind, water and hail coming in about an hour. So we headed straight for the exits after the Zipper. We noticed there were 2 buses waiting outside which was strange. It turns out, Winnipeg Transit requested all "Not in Service" buses still on the road to proceed to the park due to the coming storm. And I think they were also about to shut down the park. It started raining a bit while we were on the bus, and it got worse as we reached the bus stop. Soon, the noise on the roof got louder. I could see mothball-like stuff dropping on a plant box outside. I guess this is hail. I've heard about hail in the Philippines but never new how it looked like. Thankfully, it seemed top be a mild introduction as they say there have been golf-ball sized hail in the past. Our bus finally arrived and we had to run under the rain with our damaged umbrella. Good thing the wind had died down or else the umbrella would surely have turned inside out. I was worried because we still had a 5 minute walk from the bus stop to our house. We would have to stay at the bus shelter for a bit if the weather was still bad. Lucky for us, by the time we reached our destination, it was only drizzling.
Well, this post got pretty long. Anyway, it was a great day. Hopefully next year, I won't be so wimpy so we could get on more rides. I'd also like to watch the shows they had there. Maybe also try some of the parlor games. And of course, I also wish the weather is much better then.
I've started bringing my signature towel again. The old sweaty Patrick is back. The other day, it reached 30+ degrees C. It's eventually going to reach Philippine levels but with much less humidity. I now know that 15-20 degrees (Spring time) is my ideal temperature. Thanks to the weather, people are heading to the Parks for picnics, a lot of them Pinoys. At the same time though, it's been raining quite a bit. So people here really pay attention to weather reports. Since arriving in Canada, I now understand why Sims have a "talk about the weather" option. In the Philippines it's just "it's hot", "it's hot", "it's hot", "it's raining", "it's flooding", "it's hot", "it's hot"...
I saw a group of around 50 geese(?), both young and adult, walking at the side of the road while I was on the bus. I've heard that they sometimes stop traffic when crossing the street. It's a good thing most people here respect animals and don't run them over (and I think there are genuinely enforced laws against that)
Got a small surprise today. Someone from Cathay Pacific Customer Relations sent me air mail about my baggage incident. Basically he says that the procedure done by Cathay staff was correct but he was sorry for inconvenience caused and the level of service and poor impression caused by Philippine staff. Now I never said that the Manila staff were at fault. I even blamed myself for not making sure what I did with my baggage was correct. I just stated that it would make sense if both airlines could accommodate this case. Hopefully nobody from Philippine staff is punished or something. But there, I'm really impressed with this personalized response though and I commend Cathay's Customer Relations for it.
Today is Me and Mean's 1st wedding anniversary. Despite most of that year being apart, it's been a really good one especially thanks to these last few months spent together. And today we planned to celebrate with a simple lunch out (you might say "cheap", but I only started working this week :) ). Unfortunately, we're gonna have to postpone this.
The ice may be melting. But there's still a lot left. So it's pretty weird for me to see rain fall at this time. This is also my first rain in Canada. Anyway, I suppose with the still low temperature, this results in slippery roads and sidewalks. Not only that, it started snowing a bit later in the day.
So the weather kinda ruined our plans. But we were still very happy to reach this milestone. We settled with watching Breakfast at Tiffany's with Audrey Hepburn. I actually liked it, but I had to ignore the 60's speaking styles which I used to make fun of.
So there, not the day we expected. But we'll make up for it next weekend I guess. Hoping for several more decades of bliss.
The roads are really wet today. There's lot less snow on rooftops. The temperature is also over 0 degrees Celsius. I'm able to go longer without gloves and a toque. Sunset is getting later and later. Looks like spring is getting closer and closer. I'm finally going to see what Winnipeg really looks like.
After about 3 weeks of -30 to -40 temperature, it's finally gone to higher than -20. And according to weather forecasts, it's gonna remain (relatively) warm for at least this week. I'm really starting to look forward to finding out what the city looks like without all the white stuff.
The temperature is at minus 40 C. This is one day I consider myself lucky for not having a job, I don't have to go out as often. I should have a car before the next winter.
I commented in a previous post that it was nice to experience my first snowfall. I think I'll take it back. I'm going to have to help shovel today... for the first time. My first time and it's around a foot of snow. So what happens when you get a foot of snow?
People are stuck at home (snowed in)
Buses are delayed
Cars get stuck on the road
My body aches
It doesn't help that I put together a computer table the night before.
Since we had our computer, we now needed a computer table. Thankfully, My-Dinh, Means friend at work, graciously agreed to drive us around. So she picked us around lunch time and off we went.
My hadn't eaten so we looked for a place to eat. She decided to bring us to Cora's. Now I really like eggs. When I was in the Philippines, I really loved eating at this restaurant called Heaven 'n Eggs whose specialty was breakfast and meals with eggs like Omelettes, tapsilog, etc. So that was pretty much what Cora's was all about so I felt at home. And when I'm at home at a restaurant it means I could spend a really long time going over a menu, trying to decide what to eat. I'm not gonna pretend to be a food critic and try to describe to you what I ate, what was good, bad or whatever. Let's just say I'd like to come back and try everything else on the menu. We wanted to pay for My's food since she was already going out of her way to drive us around but she threatened to leave us by the side of the road. Oh well, we'll try to treat her out again when I get a job and earn some money.
So off we go to Future Shop. Future Shop is a large store chain that sells all things techie. Heaven for me if only I had the cash. We picked out a router, wireless card and a USB connector for our printer.
After this, we headed to Staples Business Depot to check out PC tables. My was also looking for a small bookshelf. We didn't get one yet though. A new experience for me is how stores here try their best to beat prices in order to make a sale. You just need to bring a brochure or point out a website where a particular item is cheaper, then the store tries their best to beat it. Anyway, that's how My got her bookshelf here.
We then headed to Wal-Mart, and the PC tables seemed better here. We still didn't get one though My spotted some Friends DVDs on sale so she decided to pick them up (with a bit of prodding from us). This would soon result in us going to each and every Wal Mart we could think of to possibly complete all 10 seasons. I think we were able to find around 4.
We went on a bit of a detour to pick up My's sister and her friend. They seemed quite nice. I also got a nice intro on the background of The Forks. It was also at this point that I notice snow starting to fall. This is the first time for me to witness snowfall so I was pretty amused.
Now here's something about North American culture I'm having a real hard time getting used to. Returns. I mean, in the Philippines, the only time you return something is when it's defective (not even that is guaranteed). Here, you can return something just because you feel like it. So there, My returned the bookshelf she bought earlier to another Staples branch. It's something I'm gonna have to get used to especially since Mean has pretty much embraced this practice.
So on one of our Wal-Mart stops, we decide on getting a table. There were some big ones that were cheap but floor area is limited in our room. We pick a tall one in stead. I'm still satisfied with the selection though.
So there, we had quite a trip around Winnipeg. Unfortunately, I still couldn't remember how to get anywhere. We headed home and took a few pictures. There's quite a bit of snow accumulating on the ground already, and it looks real nice... for now...
