Lessons Learned

It has been a crazy month with leaving and returning to Stella. I left thinking what I wanted was organization, which I felt Stella lacked, but it turns out feeling at home where I work (especially when so far from the only province I've ever called home) was more important. Flexibility and relationships are important. Everything is working out perfectly so that I can both enjoy the time while my mom is here visiting and actually come home for Christmas.

It's strange, too, how living without the majority of my 'things' for four months is not so hard. Mom had asked me what I wanted her to bring of mine when she visits. Initially, I thought I would have a hard time narrowing down the list, turns out the opposite was true: I could barely make one. I have managed for so long with what little I have and, for the most part, it's enough. My Buffy obsession needed to be satisfied though, and without that I would have gone mad with homesickness I'm sure.

Things I used to think I definitely did not want to part with, like my huge CD collection, I am okay without... at least now that I finally have access to the majority of it on my computer again. Movies and TV are just time wasters...granted, now I have cable, so time still gets wasted (and there's always the internet, too). However, there is less desire to 'collect' and that's probably because I'm actually doing something with myself other than being stuck in a city that I knew I wasn't meant to stay my whole life in. Much as I love Victoria, this is definitely what I needed to do.

Major Update, Part 2: Airport Beginnings

I went to the airport interview with mixed feelings and started my first day of Starbucks training with even bigger misgivings. Having been asked for feedback from Tammy the day before my leaving had caught me off guard. I had trouble figuring out how and where to start after feeling like the lines of communication had been closed down. After a lot of anguish the night before my last day, I decided on a letter only to end up having a very candid chat with Tammy after my final shift. We talked with ease about certain problems that had arisen for me, but we never touched upon the big issue. But it did make writing a letter easier, and make me wish even more that I wasn't leaving.

So, Monday morning I began my training expecting a very long day:10am to 6pm and then running to my French class which runs from 6pm until 9pm. The training itself was extremely boring, and I spent much of the day missing Stella Luna (despite its doors being closed as usual for a Monday). Starbucks wants to be North America's neighbourhood Italian coffee shop since they also believe they brought the latte to America; and, to me, it just all seemed so fake considering I'd just come from working at an authentic Italian neighbourhood cafe, complete with resident Roman. We also talked about Starbucks' ways of being and were given little cards describing these, two of which simply screamed to me Stella Luna: 'take care of yourself' and 'love what you do'. The longer I sat through all of this, the more I felt like I'd run away from home instead of quitting a job.

Tuesday was not much better, despite going down to Stella Luna between training sessions for the day (8:20am for airport Security Awareness Training and then 1pm to 9pm for Starbucks training). I had already made up my mind to ask to come back because when I left Tammy had told me I could always come back. But when I did come back, there were not one but two new people. One to replace me (which happened after I completed my last day) and one to replace Bridget who gave her notice around the time I actually left. I went back to Starbucks training, trying to suck it up and be engaged even though it was the last place I wanted to be. By this time, we'd already lost two of the four people meant to be in the full-time supervisory positions... and one of them surprisingly wasn't me.

A lot of what was said by the Starbucks manager (an HMS Host manager of several stores) made it all seem even more daunting. The Ottawa airport has been waiting for a Starbucks for four years and that it was going to be insanely busy in the first couple of weeks due to this built-up excitement. The store was barely staffed as it was and we were basically going to be asked to give up our lives to be there constantly in the meantime. Needless to say, really not my cup of tea. I was already feeling stressed and the store hadn't even opened. I like to care about where I work, but I also don't want it to be my entire life, not when it's Starbucks anyway.

I came home to an email from Tammy saying that if I was really so unhappy with Starbucks that I could take her part-time evening position she was still working to fill. I jumped at the chance, but tried to figure out what I was going to do to make up the difference to pay my bills fully (and to finish paying down my credit card debt).

Despite this new development, I still went to the training until I could work out the details with Tammy. She called during my third eight hour classroom only training shift asking me to come in the next day to train the girl who was my replacement and then begin my night shifts the following day. So, I had another day of training to endure and then, once again, running to French class before starting back at Stella at 8am the next morning. It was before my early morning Stella Luna shift that I emailed the HMS Host people to quit and ask where I should return the nametag, key card and security pass given to me.

Major Update, Part 1: Leaving Stella

So, it's been a while. And I never did get around to Bluesfest, and to be honest, I don't think I ever will at this point.

There's been a lot going on these past few weeks, and a lot that's changed, so I figured it was worth an update as it really has been a bit mind-boggling.

As some of you know, I had a little incident at Stella Luna which made me fear for my job security and felt it was better to get out before I was made to get out. Things fell into place quickly. I felt ill and went home early, and also hoping to begin job searching and was inspired by something I saw on TV which I wouldn't have seen otherwise if I'd lasted through my whole shift. I've thought working for an airline or in an airport would be really cool for years and what I saw reminded me of that. I found somewhere that was hiring and applied. I got an email the next day asking me for an interview. Thinking this was exactly what I wanted and needed, I set up the interview and figured I'd see what happened. Well, by the time the interview actually happened... everything was going much better at Stella Luna again. I had mixed feelings going into it, and wrote down my availability as if I weren't leaving Stella. The HMS Host people who interviewed me (they're the company that runs all of the little shops in the airport) said that they would rather have me for full time. They wanted an answer quickly, and feeling like this had all happened so quick the way Stella Luna had that it meant I was supposed to be there. So, impulsively I accepted and started filling out the paperwork (airports and unions require lots of forms it seems).

I went to the Stella Luna staff meeting that afternoon, not knowing how I was going to tell Tammy I was leaving. Despite everything that happened, I still liked her and I also just flat out hate giving my notice and quitting. It came out much easier than expected and thus began the two-week countdown to my departure.

Stella Luna

Stella Luna Gelato Cafe

Where to start? There is so much I love about this place already! My roommate Stef cannot contain her excitement for my new workplace. Even though I don't work on opening day (today), she and I will be dropping by after she gets off work.

I have never been happier about having to wear a uniform to work; then again, I've never had truly nice uniforms before. The gold aprons and ties (optional for the girls) are imported from Italy, then there are the button-up dress shirts with the Stella Luna logo (and a second style option for the girls).

The store itself feels very homey. Nice comfortable chairs in the corners, bookcases to display the coffees, teas, and chocolates for sale. Along the back walls are church pews as part of the seating. The lamps, too, are something you would find in a stylish home (or even just a home decor catalogue).

Everything about this place has a touch of elegance and class, which is exactly what Tammy is going for. When eating in, the gelato and milkshakes (frappé) are served in glassware: martini glasses and old fashioned champagne glasses. Gelato is served with an Italian cookie to garnish the already beautiful (and delicious!) gelato. The cones are also imported from Italy and each size has a unique design, and are far superior to the standard cones you tend to find here (not remotely styrofoamy in either texture or taste). The coffee here (from an old Swiss family-run company) is served with a chocolate covered espresso bean.

Friday was merely a practice day for our full staff (there are twelve of us--3 full-timers including myself and 9 part-timers--plus Tammy and Alessandro) to serve customers (our friends and family only). It was a bit crowded for those of us working, making it a bit awkward to effectively train; however, we were busy for nearly the full four hours that we were "open". This bodes extremely well for opening day. And since I was able to drop by today prior to getting this actually posted, I can confirm that opening day has indeed been busy. I will have lots to do tomorrow for my first 'real' day. However, I am not sure how the morning shift will go for the rest of the week since the crepes and waffles have not been introduced just yet.

I went in extra early on Friday to help deal with the inventory and prepare the shop for our 'customers'. Later, in my boredom due to the overcrowding behind the counter and my lack of something to do, I kept returning to my cleaning task from the day before: unpacking and washing all of the new dishes. By the end of the day Tammy said to me how glad she was that they found me. I am used to my bosses coming to love me, but I don't think it's ever happened so quickly! We haven't even officially opened yet (well, I guess now we technically have...).

I really am going to love working here!


UPDATE: Photos of the Stella Luna interior and our entire team taken on our 'test day': Stella Luna Gelato photos

Sorry for the Delay... Welcome to my Home

I know it has been weeks since my last update and I have so much I would like to post, but keep failing to sit down to actually write any of it. I still intend to write an update regarding all of Bluesfest, which finished up a week and a half ago. There is lots to write, and a lot of video clips (almost all of which are on Facebook or YouTube at this point).

But, given my last post about still being on the hunt for a job, I thought I should update finally with this at the very least: I have acquired a position at Stella Luna, which will be opening its doors this weekend! And the training and my excitement over this job is also a post in and of itself.

my second attempt at devilled eggs

(I forgot to take a photo of the first attempt)

So, here's what you can (hopefully) expect to see soon:

• Bluesfest update
• more about my lovely roommates
• and Stella Luna

 

current state of the wall mural

As for this afternoon, I'd like to get more painting done on my wall (or at the very least tidying up my room after the most recent arrival of more stuff).

beginnings of the wall mural

However, since this post is low on written content, I thought I'd at least finally take some photos of my home and share them with you all. Since I will soon have a regular routine, I may find it easier to sit down and actually write up the posts I want to do. Possibly even tomorrow since I have been trying to readjust for early mornings in preparation for a 6:30am start at work and do not have to be in tomorrow until 1:00pm. Also, you should be getting another round of postcards shortly. I felt it was more important to get those out than blogging. And now, the photo tour of my new home:
 

my incredible mess of a bed... the small thing on the wall is my Bluesfest ticket signed by The Tea Party (more about that later)

old stereo and new storage and more mess

the slightly more organized closet

upstairs bathroom (yes, I took a photo of the bathroom)

our kitchen

dining room/living area (finally there is a clear path through here!)

living room now, post-rearrangement

living room view from the patio door

our backyard (Yay! a backyard!)

Ottawa Update #3 - The Job Hunt Continues...

Sorry it's been a while since the last real update. Things are totally crazy with job-hunting/interviewing and going to Bluesfest (but Bluesfest will be another post later on) right now.

I have had three interviews now, four that were scheduled though. The one at Prospero Bookstore seemed to go well, and I certainly would have made a better impression than the girl who was scheduled immediately after me. My interview was interrupted because she was half an hour early and demanded that my interviewer Lisa be informed of the fact that she had arrived. The problem with even if I got that job is that there are no guaranteed hours. It is more of a fill-in position, resulting in potentially only one shift a week, depending upon the needs of the store.

I also got a call-back from The Bay for a shoe sales position... at a mall that it takes an hour to commute to from my house. And the group interview was scheduled for an hour before I was hoping to be at the opening night of Bluesfest. Already nothing was working towards making me like this position; however, I decided to talk myself into wanting it so that I would do well at the interview. Then my bus broke down on the way there, I tried to call to say that I would be late but because of the noise of buses I could not hear all the stupid maze of menu options to get to talk to a real person. I gave up and arrived a few minutes late to the shoe department (because I also hadn't entirely understood the directions I was given to the interview location) to ask where I was to go. There were two other people already there and it ended up being the slowest line in history just so I could ask a question. By the time the girl was processing the second lady, I was already fifteen minutes late. I pretty much gave up then because being that late and having been unable to call, I was not going to make a good impression and for a job that would just end up pissing me off for the ridiculous commute anyways.  

Shortly after that, Starbucks called to set up an interview for yesterday. Excellent, another shot at something half decent that's not Subway. But the same day I also had an interview set up for the next day with Stella Luna Gelato. Now, this place is cool. The lady who is opening the shop is amazing, you should read her story (which she also gave me a quick run-down of during the interview): Tammy's story. I love everything she stands for, which is genuinely personal and friendly service and healthy food. My interview was very relaxed and we went to for coffee at a small dog-friendly cafe down the street and talked about how I ended up in Ottawa (which included Donald Miller and her deciding she wanted to read this book), Russian and Dostoevsky, art, history, music and a bit about bartending and bellydancing, too. I would adore working in this place, which is still getting ready to open its doors later this month (hopefully!), because she seems to genuinely care about people, both her workers and her customers.

And due to certain events at Bluesfest, I nearly forgot about the Starbucks interview. Thankfully, I did remember and managed to get myself there over an hour early despite hours of running around southern Ottawa in the morning with Jess. I had no idea you get a free drink when you go for an interview there, that was a nice perk. The interview itself was nothing special, and my interviewer will not even be my manager if I do get the position because the store is in transition and he's leaving and someone else is coming in. Also during that interview, my phone started buzzing... because I had another call about a different job which, having looked up this job, pretty much makes you out into a door-to-door scam artist. Thankfully, my Starbucks interviewer did not notice my phone going off.

So, as of now, I still am without a job, but making progress. And hopeful about Stella Luna. I have a feeling about this place, but I won't know for sure for a little while longer. I called yesterday to check in and there has been another minor setback which has pushed back the timeline for hearing back about the job.

Canada Day in Ottawa

 Canada Day got off to a slow start for me, I didn't make it downtown until 3pm. However, I don't think I missed out by getting going so late.

I spent my afternoon wandering around downtown among the crowds that were just about everywhere in downtown. Way more than back in Victoria. Victoria seems way too laid back to have a good afternoon Canada Day celebration. Here, it's a bigger deal and not just because Will & Kate are in town. The less you venture out, the more you miss out on. My wanderings later in the day proved that when I found all kinds of other stuff going on in the different areas of downtown.

But first, I started on Sparks St., which is kind of like Bastion Square meets Las Ramblas (or Stephen Ave. in Calgary). It's several blocks long and has all kinds of festivals and entertainment. When I arrived in the city, Ribfest was going on down there and all kinds of booths were set up to get people to try their award-winning ribs and perhaps win awards again this year.

I watched one of the buskers who was in the middle of one of the streets which was mostly blocked off for the crowds. I say 'mostly' because there was a point where the crowd had to part to let an ice truck through while the busker directed the truck with his bowling pins in hand. I started watching towards the end of his show, where he kept trying to work his way up to the grand finale where he would ride the "Mini Clown Bike of Doom" (dun dun dun...) and then jump up on two guys to make a human pyramid and juggle flaming batons. He first had one of the big guys try out the bike to show how difficult it was and then a kid who was a bit more the bike's size. During the show, he also dissed Ottawa U, which I wasn't sure was warranted or not since I have no idea about that school despite wandering around its halls on my first day here, but the crowd booed. He was saying that what he was doing is what you can do with a degree from Ottawa U, but later explained at the end of the show that he was a theatre major at the University and that busking is literally what he is qualified to do. What I saw of his show was quite good, and the kid who helped out with demonstrating the Mini Clown Bike of Doom and the spinning plate was given five dollars for his trouble instead of his other choice of animal balloon.

Brothers Dubé playing on Sparks St.

I then wandered a bit further down Sparks and found these guys, The Brothers Dubé. Kids playing some serious rock and roll and being quite professional too. The red-head who was singing and MC-ing is only 12 years old! The other two boys are his older and younger brothers, the drummer Quinn (10) and guitarist Liam (14). I was very impressed. They played very rocky Beatles covers and Guns'N Roses and Metallica, but also their own songs. They even have an album coming out, which I think is incredible. They also seem to have their whole family involved; the dad does their sound setup and the grandfather was handing out band cards.

I filmed a small chunk of their cover of Come Together with my camera:

kids swimming in the fountain in Confederation Par

I did a bit more wandering around after that and checked out what was happening at Jazz Fest, which was free only for Canada Day and found a spot after a while to sit and cool my feet off in the fountain in Confederation Park like everyone else. I was trying to get in touch with Julianne at this point to figure out when and where I'd be meeting up with her and everyone else. While I waited, I was watching the kids swimming around in the footbath of a fountain. Shortly after I sat down, there was a little girl with her dad and baby sister who sat next to me and stuck her feet in the fountain too. Her little sister took the Canadian flag someone else had left behind and was poking my purse with it. The dad tried to tell her not to take things from other people, but since it wasn't mine I told him she could keep it. The little girl next to me saw some change on the bottom of the fountain and wanted to throw a penny in herself. She asked her dad for one, but he didn't have anything on him and told her to wait for her mom to return. I've had loads of pennies floating around lately, so I told her I could give her one. The dad told her to make sure it was a really good wish because she had taken mine. I didn't want to wish in the dirty fountain, just work on a sketch of it; that sketch was short-lived because I heard back from Julianne and left.

She told me to bring booze with me for drinking before we headed out, but the liquor stores are not open on Canada Day, even in the mall and I hadn't planned ahead because liquor is expensive (and I have no job) and I don't really care whether I drink or not right now. I lost touch with Julianne and had to find something to do in the meantime until I could find out where I was headed to meet her and Sean.
   
I ended up wandering around further down on Rideau and in the Byward Market. Back-to-back stages seem to work surprisingly well. On one block (and from blocks away) you could hear the pumping techno music of Tiesto coming from the Escapade Music Festival. I walked around the block and there was another stage with a rock band playing, and you could not tell that Tiesto was blaring away on the opposite side. No idea who the band was though.

I decided after that to head back up towards Parliament because it was getting closer to the time I thought Will & Kate were making their second appearance of the day. It was not essential to see them, but because Julianne had been silent for so long and I wanted to check out something different, I figured why not. I wasn't there long and the concert series was set to start soon and I started getting text messages from way too many people at once, one of whom was a random wrong number. I asked who it was and got the response "fancy man". Okay... interesting. However, when he figured out I wasn't his friend Luc, I didn't hear back. But in the meantime I did hear back from Julianne and started to walk towards where they were down on King Edward at the other end of downtown. By the time I reached the location of their last update, they had continued on and I missed them. While waiting trying to figure out in which direction to go, a car drove by with a girl getting sick out of the window. Attractive.

I finally found Julianne and Sean and they had met up with Amanda as well. Julien, with a couple of his friends in tow, joined us shortly. I had no idea what the plan was, but we headed over to Julien's for dinner. Grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, normally uninteresting but Jason was manning the grill and he is a chef, so we were treated to a gourmet BBQed dinner. A few of us had some tea (really good Darjeeling, from the first flush) and Sean ate his slightly iffy hot dogs that had been perhaps sitting around for too long before getting cooked. The burgers were safe to eat, and so delicious, with both the tomatoes and buns being grilled as well. We got treated to watermelon and grapes by Julien's mom for dessert.

We left to go watch the fireworks, expecting the location Julien had suggested to be nearly empty. It wasn't. We found a different spot in the same park with less people and set down the sheet Sean brought with him. The fireworks started and we discovered we'd made a slight miscalculation in our location because there was a tree blocking the view of half of the fireworks. We all moved over about ten feet and stood instead during the display. Much better than Victoria, yet still not beyond spectacular. But it was enjoyable.

Just after the fireworks finished some guy started walking toward us in the dark and started yelling. Apparently one of their friends. Bram became quite the entertaining fellow for the rest of the night. We met up with Fraser (who I met on my first night out on the town in Ottawa) and were planning on heading downtown to meet up with another group of people. We had to return to Julien's before leaving though to retrieve some stuff which turned into the guys goofing off in the garage with all the weight training equipment... and an air gun. Jason, our lovely chef, was very nervous about the gun, just as he had been about people setting off fireworks in the park; he literally ran when someone set one off about ten feet away from us as we were walking to find a good spot.

We finally got going and I learned first-hand why I was told before leaving Victoria not to live in Vanier. We hit that area and there were sketchy drug-addled people hanging about on the corners. And we ended up stopping at one of those corners for a good 5-10 minutes because they ran into someone a bunch of them knew from years ago and decided to get caught up. As we walked through that area I was extremely glad that the ratio of guys to girls was about 2:1; it made me feel much safer.

We arrived downtown and met up with their friends, who were very drunk, as young people on Canada Day tend to be. I really was the anomaly last night. Shortly after meeting up with their friends John and Luke, Bram decided to take his pants off. I can't remember the lead up to why this happened. Later Bram and Julien came up with the idea that because women like tall men that if they were twice as tall, they'd have even better luck with the ladies. Julien is not that tall, so we're not sure where they got the idea of 14 feet being the correct number of their combined height. I tried to take a photo of Julien sitting on Bram's shoulders while they approached girls saying they were conjoined twins and trying to proposition them, but my camera tends to be uncooperative at night. I had a bottle of iced tea with me from earlier and at one point Bram asked me if it was just a bottle full of alcohol. No. I think it was around this time that he asked me if I thought they were a bunch of assholes. I said no, and he responded that he wasn't doing a good enough job then. I told him I found him entertaining. People who randomly take off their pants downtown when there are cops and clean-up crews everywhere are certainly entertaining. He came up to me again later and said "You seem like you're a lot less drunk than me". Why yes, I haven't had a thing to drink all day. Too funny.

I was feeling a bit nervous about when my bus stopped running and bailed after about an hour downtown just chilling out. They were trying to figure out where to go next, but couldn't come to a consensus, so it seemed like a good time to go. I didn't get home until 1:30am anyways, so it's not like it was that early of a night; but I made the right decision in joining Julianne and everyone if I wanted to have a good time on Canada Day because my roommates were all in bed when I got home.

Long Overdue Ottawa Photos

Alexandria Bridge which I crossed to get to Quebec from Ottawa

view of Parliament from the Gatineau side

Fancy spires... on a not so fancy looking church. 

One of Ottawa's museums... and a giant spider that lives outside of it. 

Another fancy-spired church without the fancy church. I have to go back and get a picture of just the spires from further away. It's the only part truly worth photographing and this photo is terrible.

Ottawa Update #2 - Starting from the Bottom

I don't even know where to start. This has been a very crazy week. I arrived in Ottawa, found a place, moved in, signed up for classes, and now have an interview set up for tomorrow for a job I applied to this afternoon.

my new bed and the crap surrounding it

I am, however, still on the bottom rungs of just about everything. My bed is pathetic, but it's a bed. It's a very thin mattress, but that also made it much easier to carry on the bus from IKEA back to my place in Alta Vista. It's an hour long ride to begin with, add in the fact that on my return trip I hit rush hour traffic on the bus at 3:30pm. Not a pretty sight with me and my mattress and the rest of my bedding tucked in a bag. I also didn't make things any easier on myself by ignoring my own directions and taking a different bus. The problem was totally fixable, but it took me a while to realize where on earth the stop was that I needed to get back on track at the Transitway station I ended up at. I'm not sure which was worse, the bus with the bed or having to walk another 10 minutes trying to maintain speed while it was boiling hot out. At least it wasn't raining.

organized chaos

So, now I have a bed. And a home. Adjusting to that has been a bit weird though. I like my roommates, well, two of the three for sure, but it is odd having to adjust to living with so many people and act like this is my home, too. It's not helped by the fact that no one was home when I arrived, so I had to kind of figure certain things out on my own, and others have just left me confused. I thought Jess was buying a mini-fridge to help alleviate the clutter in the downstairs fridge. Her fridge is purchased and set up, but still the fridge is a nightmare of no space. This is making it difficult for me to want to purchase groceries as there will be nowhere to put anything that requires refrigeration.

the only things on my wall so far

Other than that, things seem to be going relatively well. I have signed up for the French course I wanted to take, which included a bit of a nightmare of an assessment test. I knew I'd have to endure something like that, but I didn't realize how awkward it would be. I could understand about 3/4 of what was said to me, but often could not respond or very, very awkwardly respond with the limited French I could remember off the top of my head. Unfortunately though, there were a few times where the 1/4 I didn't understand, was precisely the most important part of the question. As it turns out, very unsurprisingly, I will be starting at level 1 and trying to work my way up to level 5 or 6 (whichever will get me to pass the TFI with a 305 for admission to Glendon).

Now for the fun part, starting back at basically where I was before I left Victoria: sitting for hours on end writing cover letters and submitting resumes in hopes of finding a job. I do not relish the thought of this; nor of the very real possibility that I will have to work for Subway again. Food services and retail are high on my list of options right now as anything truly worthwhile here, including becoming a library clerk, requires some bilingualism, which I have clearly proven I do not have. However, it seems today that hanging out at the library was not the place for me to spend my time. I received two phone calls while there, one after I'd turned off my phone. It seems that because my phone was off when I got the call, I get only the voicemail left and not the phone number that actually called. It made for a bit of a puzzle just now because I also did not recognize the name of the store it was from. I applied for two positions on the Indigo website, one for Smith Books and the other for an unnamed store at 128 Bank St. It was only after I Googled the name of the store left in the message that I put two and two together. I found the number and called back and I now have an interview set up for tomorrow afternoon at The Prospero Bookstore in downtown Ottawa. So much for proximity, but it is certainly a much better prospect than Subway. 

Ottawa Update #1 - Saying “Yes” and taking Ottawa by Storm

So, the past few days have been… crazy. I was feeling really overwhelmed when I first arrived, then I went and walked around Ottawa in the light of day without the entirety of my belongings in tow and it wasn’t so daunting anymore. The city centre is not that big, although there are a lot of people… everywhere. Ottawa is busy. It has amalgamated several former towns into Ottawa suburbs, plus all the people living in Gatineau and Hull that cross the river every day.

I am finding the weather to be more confusing here than in Victoria. It is cloudy but extremely warm on one day. Then rain, lots of it, for the next two days. Yet still mostly warm and now the sun has reappeared with a vengeance now that I finally have proper shoes for the downpour and even bought an umbrella. It figures. Oh well, at least I am prepared now.

I’ve been doing things in bite-sized steps because otherwise I truly will have a meltdown and not get anything done. On day one, I went to Ottawa University in hopes of finding a posting board with people looking for roommates. I wandered around there for at least an hour, maybe two, with little luck. I came away with two phone numbers, one of which sounded very unlikely to satisfy. I also figured out how to go about changing my phone number and did just that.

I also intended to try to properly orient myself within Ottawa, downtown Ottawa at least, and took a walk. I ended up venturing all the way into Quebec, which really isn’t that hard to do. It amuses me greatly that one can cross any number of bridges and be in the next province. Promptly after my arrival on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, I was given the opportunity to prove just how poor my French is. There was a group of girls walking ahead of me and I stopped to sit down for a bit, they came over and started speaking to me in French and, without meaning to, I looked back at them in utter confusion. Thankfully, they switched to (fractured) English and asked me whether I’d seen someone texting on a phone because apparently one of them had lost their phone and someone had picked it up and tried to notify the girl through her friends. It just made me feel like I had to stop lingering on the French side of things as I’m clearly out of place in Quebec at the moment.

To whoever questioned why I would move to Ottawa in order to learn French (and I know there were a few) must not have spent much time here. Honestly, there is French everywhere and it seems like with a lot of jobs, if you don’t speak French, you won’t get the job. Besides, Quebec is literally a walk away for when I want to practice.

It was also on my first day here that I found an ad on Craigslist for a room in a house with three other girls. Normally I’m quite wary of all things related to Craigslist, but this sounded like exactly what I was looking for and the ad had only been posted that afternoon while I was wandering back and forth between Ontario and Quebec. I answered the ad and over the past few days have had contact with one of the girls to set up a time to meet and see the house. I did a dry run to get out to the area yesterday because I know my tendency to get lost, and also my tendency to get extremely anxious when I don’t know where I’m going and have an appointment to keep. I set a time to meet the girls for this morning… and realized after setting out the time that I did not have the exact address, only the area. I got the address emailed to me at 10:30 this morning; I was supposed to meet the girls at 11:00am and it takes twenty minutes on the bus to get out to Alta Vista from my hostel. Well, thankfully for my wandering around yesterday, because I knew where the library was located and with my new library card I was able to check my email and acquire the address. The directions were to head toward Heron Gate Mall because the house is directly across from there. I had walked there yesterday as well and knew it was no more than a 10-15 minute walk and, therefore, knew exactly where I was going this morning. I met the girls and saw the house. It’s small, but nice; and getting my own room again after two weeks of shared accommodation is going to be absolutely wonderful… even if I don’t have a bed or blankets or even a pillow. And just to prove how much this is providence and God’s hand at work: precisely when my time at the hostel will be maxed out and I will need to find somewhere else to stay is when I get to move in to my new home! There is some room shuffling happening over the weekend and come Monday I will be residing in greater Ottawa officially, and not just as a guest.

After getting my phone number changed and initiating contact with Jess, one of the future roommates, I spent my second morning in Ottawa getting a library card and getting my resume, without a proper address, to two temp agencies: Man Power (who thanks my aunt and uncle for telling me they exist) and Kelly Services. I am not entirely surprised by what happened at Kelly’s: if I don’t speak French, it’s unlikely I will get a job through them because the federal government tends to require bilingualism. However, it is a step. Now that I will have an address, finding a job will be much easier to do as well.

Now for the fun stuff: My plans last night had been to shower and read then go to bed early because I have been exhausted these past few days. A fellow staying at the hostel, Akshay, started trying to chat with me last night. When I told him I was trying to settle in Ottawa, he asked me if I’d care to join him and his friends who live in Ottawa. Of course, I said yes. I may have been tired, but I know I need to meet people here so I can’t afford to turn down an opportunity like that. Having done so, I felt a bit like Jim Carrey’s “Yes Man”: you never know what may happen.

We ended up doing a tour of downtown Ottawa mini-pub crawl, but the weather was horrendous so we chose to initially bide our time at the hostel bar Mugshots. I got to meet Akshay’s friends Julianne and Sean. Initially, I felt a little weird because they hadn’t seen each other in a while and so they were trying to get caught up with a stranger in tow. In the end though, I ended up having a good chat with them both and with a few other friends of theirs who showed up a bit later. Sarah will laugh at me for this, but I ended up having a bit of a conversation about Dostoevsky with one of them, but there was a reason for it. I am not just obsessed. Jennalee had said to her boyfriend Fraser something about him only liking books that have unhappy endings; I couldn’t help but ask if he liked to read Dostoevsky in response to something like that. Considering I had started the evening out as a stranger, I was a bit surprised when Julianne said she wanted me to bond with her friend Amanda that night. We didn’t talk much, but I look forward to speaking with her again and seeing more of her artwork after hearing Akshay rave about how great a painter she is; and from what I’ve seen so far, I have to agree. I could certainly learn a thing or two from her. Julianne has also decided she will take me for my first poutine after she returns from Belgium in a couple of weeks.

So, indeed this has been quite the whirlwind three days. I can’t believe it’s only been three days since I arrived in Ottawa! And already I have a house to call home soon and well on my way to making friends. This just proves that I was meant to be here and not in Victoria at this time. As with when I was in Spain, if I could transport you all here with me, it would be simply perfect. As it is, I am glad Sarah was correct in calling me gregarious; I will be just fine making new friends because of that fact.  

Day 13-14: The Rough Road to Ottawa

A day and a half on the bus is a long time.

I didn't take any pictures while crossing Ontario, so this will be a text-only post. Ontario is mostly just trees, punctuated with lakes and short walls of salmon-coloured rocks. And really, they don't call Ontario the Land of a Thousand Lakes for nothing.

My ride across Ontario was mostly uneventful. The only things of interest were the occasional roadside giants I saw:

• Gorilla (or more likely Sasquatch) with a fish dangling from a fishing rod
• Moose and an eagle perched on a wooden lawn chair
• Mosquito (that I at first thought was an airplane) with a man hanging by straps while the mosquito held a knife and fork in hand (and looked very angry too)

After leaving Sudbury (where the bus route splits off from those headed to Toronto), where I did not see the giant nickel, the road got extremely rocky. Quite literally. My bus travelled along a highway that was under construction and parts of it were occasionally even just dirt. It also didn't help that every time were were on anything but smooth pavement all the seats rattled loudly like they would come off their hinges or whatever was bolting them to the floor. Not pleasant for attempting to sleep. Thankfully, I did most of that while on the previous bus.

The highlight, aside from my excitement of finally getting closer to my final destination, was passing through Pembroke. We zig-zagged quite a bit through the small city, which was perfect because I was dying to see the place because that's where my grandpa was from and I have much I need to dig into when I get the chance regarding the family history on his side. I think in a matter of the five or ten minutes meandering through Pembroke on the bus, I fell in love. It is quaint, but didn't seem to be overly small either. The houses are mostly small brick buildings, and yet have so much character to them. As did the lovely old churches. I really can't wait to go back once I have the chance.

And once again... I arrived in a city and got lost. I managed to get on the bus alright, and get off at the right stop even. I also lucked out and got a free bus ride as the driver's transfer machine was broken. The problem this time was that in the directions I wrote for myself, I wrote south rather than towards such-and-such street. I don't know my directions well, particularly in a new city. Anways, to explore and get properly oriented tomorrow.

Reflections

I’ve been feeling for a while like I’m simply on vacation, not starting all over again on the opposite side of the country. So, with each step closer to Ottawa, I have a moment where I wonder what the hell I’m doing and whether I can really pull it off.

A few things have kept me sane over the past week and a half. As I left Jasper and crossed Alberta to Calgary, it was remembering the conversation I had with Becky about bravery the day before I left Victoria. Everyone seems to think I’m brave to embark on this journey, but for the most part I haven’t been afraid; and you need to have fear in order to be brave and overcome the fear. Now, I am having ‘moments of bravery’.

Again in Calgary, my resolve started to waver once I had purchased my ticket to Winnipeg. I wanted desperately to hear my mom’s voice. And I got my wish a couple of hours later when she “accidentally” called me back while checking her voicemail. She encouraged me, after asking first if I wanted to come home, as she did again yesterday while I was in Winnipeg.

Today I wasn’t necessarily feeling upset or weird about this whole thing, but I did start to really pay attention when Vince Vaccaro started to play on my mp3 player.

Find more fireandsun songs at Myspace Music

Coco

Staring at my feet so full of stories

Starting from the time I left this city
It's such a big world for the taking
All you need is just to leave
And all the things that try to keep you here
You know that they ain't real

Whoa, all you need is just to go
Whoa, all you need is just to go

Sometimes nothing feels like it's going
If you still believe, anything can happen
Under the sun we're all the same
And all the boundaries we made are keeping us away
There's something better, feels like the sea
They call it freedom 
and I want to be Free


Don't you want to be free? Free.
Don't you want to be free? Free.
Free.
 Whoa, all you need is just to go
Whoa, all you need is just to go

And if there's something that you want
reach out and take it
And if there's something that you need
reach out and say it
Life is a colourbook and I, I want to fill it
Life is a colourbook and I, I want to fill it

Day 12 - Winnipeg

To be honest, I’m really tired. It’s partly due to having a terrible seatmate last night who was trying to take over my seat as well as his own. I managed to stake my ground a couple of times. After he got off to stretch his legs in the middle of the night, I put the armrest down so there would be a boundary between the two of us and I could get all of my seat back, not just most of it. Just because you’re big and I’m tiny, doesn’t mean you get to steal part of the seat I paid for! He later started encroaching on my space again, so I pushed his leg to get it out of my way. Plus, the driver kept announcing the stops over the PA system in the middle of the night, so I couldn’t sleep for very long chunks at a time even if I could get comfortable.

This morning, the only place I stayed awake to watch pass by was Portage la Prairie because I knew there was family history in this little place. Mom reminded me this morning that this is where my grandma went to work when she was younger. The ‘big city’ to someone from High Bluff, Manitoba (which you can miss if you blink as you drive through it).

I also woke up very unhappy when I discovered that my ankle had swollen up again. I got a few mosquito bites on my feet and ankles while in Jasper and ended up scratching one open. The result has been that my ankle has been swollen for days, but it had finally gone down. I was really not impressed to have it swell up again when the wound looks like it’s finally starting to heal. Then, after collecting my bags, I noticed that my suitcase was darker…and wet. While still in the bus depot, I grabbed one article of clothing to check if the suitcase had soaked through. It appears it had. Yet, when I got to the hostel and was able to check my things more thoroughly, everything is mostly just cold and some things a bit damp. Not quite as big of a problem as I had initially believed. Also, after walking around for a bit today, my ankle seems to have mostly returned to normal again. Apparently lack of movement is not good for it at the moment. I shudder to think what will happen on my day and a half journey to Ottawa starting tomorrow.

I am now in Winnipeg and boy is it ever hot. I’m pretty sure it was 20 degrees before noon. Quite a rapid change to all the rain, rain, rain I’ve had everywhere else it seems.

Arriving at my hostel around 9:30am, I was just hoping to store my bags because check-in time is not typically until 2pm. However, I was in luck and have my room key and everything. There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot to see or do here. I’ve mostly taken pictures of old churches spread throughout downtown and then visited The Forks down by the water. It reminded me of Granville Island in Vancouver… but not as cool. 

Riel Esplanade going across Red River

statue of a constellation... I'm not quite sure

I stopped to find somewhere to get out of the heat outside and managed to find a bench in the shade and was promptly joined by two older men seeking to do the same. One fairly quickly got busy with a phone call and the other decided to be friendly and chat. I was a bit nervous when he first asked if they could join me, but he really did seem nice enough. He also didn’t want to be spending time with his friend in the park. An introvert, ex-alcoholic and self-proclaimed Jesus freak, he said he’d rather be fishing. He left and then so did I… to escape all the bugs. I still feel like they’re landing on me.

After a couple of hours at The Forks, I was pretty much bored. There is very little of interest in Winnipeg. Now I know why everyone kept telling me as much. I don't forsee returning again anytime soon. 

For more photos of Winnipeg

Day 11 - Emerald & Gold: crossing the Prairies

The skies are big out here… and mostly full of clouds today. I like that going across the Prairies you can tell what the weather is like from miles away. I’ve been trying to get some good photos, but it’s been difficult because we’re driving past so quick and the dark clouds are not serving me so well for lighting either.

 

Just a few highlights from the trip:

Shortly after leaving Calgary I saw a Canuck-flag laden car drive past the bus.

Strathmore, AB – Our first quick stop after leaving Calgary, we’ve been on the road for an hour, and two guys nearly got into a fight in the store here. If this keeps up, it’s going to be an eventful ride… and not in the good way.

Giant stop sign at the re-entry point to the highway. It amused me how big it was.

I wish I was quicker with my camera, I missed a cool shot of a shack leaning at a forty-five degree angle. 

 

Oil rig in Alberta

Medicine Hat, AB – We stopped here a short while ago and I think next time I’d really like to make a short stop there. There doesn’t appear to be a lot to do, but I would definitely like to take some photos there. There was some cool old architecture and a giant chess board, too.

Saskatchewan was not kind. The weather was terrible pretty much from the point we entered it to the time we left it in the middle of the night. It’s too bad, because I was really looking forward to seeing a prairie sunset.
 

view from my rainy window

The view after the rainstorm passed.

I have immensely enjoyed crossing Canada. I am maybe halfway through my journey, but there is something utterly beautiful about this country. Last time I crossed Canada I travelled straight through by train. I am so glad that this time I chose to stop along the way. There is so much you miss when you just watch the scenery go by. And yet, even staring out the window has been a pleasure. I’ve spent much of the past 9-10 hours happily watching the rolling hills and prairie flatlands pass me by. This has been partly so I could take photos, but mostly just to relish in the beauty that is Canada. 

terrible exposure, but the colour is what I was after

the long and winding (dirt) road... into the hills