Friday, April 9, 2010

HellO Canada!

Our entry to this fair northern country was everything right out of a movie.

We left the airport, on the SkyTrain (think Metro with no checking of your fees...weird,) right at rush hour, so we were the goons with giant smiles pasted on our faces while the work weary trudged aboard.

Four ladies across from me actually fell asleep.

ASLEEP!

I'd be afraid I'd be mugged.

The guy next to me pulled out his discman and bebopped away.

{I have a theory that Canada is 3-5 years behind us on a lot of things (fashion, food trends, technology,) but this guy and his discman made a hole in that theory. Perhaps it is more like 10-12}

We watched as giant mountains loomed over us with their snow capped peaks and Canadians streamed about us.

Did I mention we were hauling our luggage?

Yeah, our instructors think that it gives us more of an "amazing race" type experience to hit the ground running. A Russian man greeted us at the airport and handed us our envelope with our keys, SkyTrain passes, and directions, and then we were off.

"Luckily," our baggage got delayed in Salt Lake City and then in Seattle, so all we had to take with us was our carry on bags.

God really was looking out for us.

And then we were smote.

We got off the skytrain and had to navigate the streets of Surrey...

with our wheeled luggage....

in the cold (upper 30's I think)....

and in the pouring rain.

It was miserable.

But we arrived after some wrong turns, dripped dry, and unpacked our carry ons!

The house here is great, but more on that later.

We stayed up super late waiting for the airline to drop off our luggage by 11, but then 11 came and they still hadn't brought it so we called and found out they had a computer malfunction and wouldn't be coming until 1-3 in the morning.

I went to bed. Ian was officially on duty.

I woke up early and excited to get unpacked. Only a few packing casualties (my wedding picture frame got mashed up, and my beloved Parker bowl got cracked,) but everything else survived fine. We spent the day unpacking and taking turns running out to the grocery store.

Which, should probably be another post in itself, but let me tell you, grocery shopping without a car is NOT easy folks! You can only get 1-2 bags worth of stuff at a time, which won't be that bad once we have the basics stocked, but until then, I foresee us making daily trips to the store (about 3/4 of a mile away) on foot to get what we need to be able to cook for ourselves!

That's all for now! Pictures to come soon. We have our first day of training tomorrow and then some sort of church tomorrow night(friday)!

6 comments:

Llama said...

Sounds like so much fun! Glad your having a great time! I too, would NEVER fall asleep on any type of train! Yikes!

Emily said...

Look at it this way...you won't have to do the Shred to stay in shape! Having to walk everywhere should do the trick....that and having to wear tons of warm clothes, which will be a little like weight training at the same time! Vancouver sounds like a really cool city! Hope you get your luggage soon! Love from the Vargas Clan!

Brittany said...

So glad you go to Canada safely! Have fun making it more homey! Hopefuly it doesnt rain a lot! :) Have fun pretty girl!

Lauren said...

Wow, what a crazy day for you both! Hope you get settled in quickly!

Courtney said...

You made it friend! Yay! And it seems like the 2 of you would be excellent on the Amazing Race :)

katie said...

oh my goodness! What an adventure. THe name: SkyTrain sounds awesome to me for some reason. Like a whole lot of fun to go on. Maybe it has something to do with Disneyworld in my mind.