Sunday, July 1, 2007

   Before Vacation Recap . . . . . Federal Holiday . . .
One hundred and thirty-nine years and going strong . . . it's time for that song again!


So now, the Insane Hockey Fan version:


The shameful, unpracticed Las Vegas lounge singer version:


The drunken, solo, French version:


And last but not least, the ultra-cute asian kid version:



There was also a spontaneous, outdoor, drunken group version that was also somewhat belligerent regarding Americans, so I skipped that one. Ahem . . . but honestly, it's the only song I know of that is capable of being spontaneously sung at some point during a large group setting. It's weird like that. And then people cheer afterwards. Go fig', I know . . .

Well nation o' mine, you've done me a good turn thus far. Happy Canada Day.
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Saturday, June 30, 2007

   Still gearing up for a big post . . . . .
It's 9pm and I haven't eaten dinner yet.

And I only have about a dozen vacation pics on photobucket so far:
http://s6.photobucket.com/albums/y238/emonkataren/Europe%202007/

And for giggles, here's a .gif animation Enin made of me playing Wii Bowling:



You can look at these in the meantime . . . those pics are mostly site-specific, either due to the people, the messages, or because 1L large beer steins are just too cool.
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Friday, June 29, 2007

   There and back again . . .
"Well, I'm back."

Oh yeah, Travelocity screwed me over. I also hung out with Enin for a night playing Wii Sports.


More later. I'm sleepy.
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Monday, June 25, 2007

   Computer geeks know English . . .
Shadow' dropped me off at an internet café before heading back to class for a bit more. My idea, really. Anyway, I saw the guy working the desk who was a lanky, young-ish guy with a slight overbite, big glasses . . . working in an internet café . . . yeah, there's no way he doesn't know English. Either way, Shadow' was there to finish off my thoughts in the local dialect and such. So yeah, here I am. And the internet is quite cheap here, so I'm happy.


So my goodness! Being in the Açores has certainly been quite a treat! And believe me, it continues to amaze me as to how accomodating and hospitable Shadow's family has been all week. Like I mentioned before (I'm pretty sure I mentioned it), her mom gave me her cel phone for while I'm here so I can stay in touch with people when I'm by myself or at the hotel or whatever. She's also been very prepared to shovel food into me as any mother would to her own child (and she cooks some damn good ribs, yo).

Shadow's brother, Flavio, continues to astonish with the lengths he goes for others. He's basically the driver of the family, taking us to all the places, driving me back to the hotel in the evenings . . . and he's been doing a LOT of driving! Saturday alone, he really worked the car shuttling us back and forth over the island. More than that, though, he's been very enthusiastic about showing me around to all the places, all the sights . . . and when the weather turns sour, he's always the first to lament the fact that I won't be able to see the beauty of the land through the fog. That's not something I was really expecting from the brother of the friend I was visiting . . . oh, and not to mention that he's the reason I got a good deal at the hotel.


So all together, we've had meals, seen local festivities, ate traditional foods, saw the local flora and fauna, got sand in our shoes, quoted Hiro Nakamura, walked through unlit, 1300 meter long tunnels that go practically across the entire island and back with only a crappy flashlight, three cel phones, a PSP and an iPod for lighting (now THAT was an adventure!), and otherwise just having a memorable experience.

The time has really flown and I'm pretty surprised to think that I have in fact been here five/six days already. Man . . . I almost have to come home really soon, too! When did that happen?!


Anyways, I made it, I'm doing fine, and I guess . . . I'll give a full report when I'm back in Vancouver. No one needs to worry about me right now (including local girls who do NOTHING but worry [hint hint, Shadow']), and I'll talk to you later.

Take care of each other.
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Thursday, June 21, 2007

   Well, I'm in Shadow's house now . . .
It's winding down to the last bit of day two in Ponta Delgada. I've spent a couple days now with everyone's most favourite Azorean girl in the whole wide world. She's fun . . . all bubbly and stuff. Exactly like you'd expect from her. Except now and then she speaks in Portuguese which she does less of online here.

So yeah, things are going well here, now.


Wasn't always like this, though . . .

So yeah, I did nap a bit in Lisbon, watched some bits of interview with Princes William and Harry, got on a plane . . . neck was sore . . .

Got to Ponta Delgada . . . my luggage did not . . .

Came out, saw a short little girl in a green t-shirt who looked worried (being that I came out almost an hour after landing since I had to go through the lost luggage process . . .). But yeah, after that we chilled. T'was good.

Then later in the day my luggage arrived. Aside from a present that had its wrapping torn open, it was all still there and I was happy.


Umm . . . . . I'm a bit scatterbrained right now, but essentially Shadow's entire family has been very accomodating to me. Her mother even gave me her cel phone to use while I'm here! I told her it wasn't necessary, but she insists! Man . . . it's nuts.

Oh, and we went to a Chinese place for lunch. I spoke Mandarin to the guy there a bit. He seemed very excited to see someone speak Chinese to him. Good food, too . . . good times . . .


Alright, I think I need to make a birthday video for my stepdad now. Talk to you all later, and as always, take care of each other. Tchau!
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Tuesday, June 19, 2007

   Edit to yesterday . . . which was half an hour ago my time . . .
I'm in the airport in Lisbon. Again, I am reminded that I don''t know Portuguese.

Also, these metal stand up kiosks suck ass.


So luckiily I don't haveto check out and back in, soat least I can hang out in the terminals instead of the entrance lobbies. I'll be heree for six more hours, though. . . I think I shall nap.

I surviveed Paris but just bareely - whole lotta nothin', or eating, or writing stupid notes in my clipboard or storyboarding music videos for anime conventions.


This kiosk hurts. I''ll talk to ya from Shadow's house . . .


Take care of each other,now.
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   For destinations outside EU . . .
Duty free liquor shopping failed my tradition. I guess I should have bought it beforehand while in Skövde after all . . . d'oh.

Um . . . I'll bring tea instead, I guess. and Finnish chocolates with booze in them.


Oh yeah, and it's very hard to find hotels in Stockholm. Took me many tries and an eventual internet booking to get one.


So here I am in Stockholm Arlanda Airport, killing another hour or so before boarding my plane and heading back to Paris (Paris really turned out to be my hub city of this trip - constantly passing through it). So I leave Swedish soil in about . . . one hour from now.

Then it's about two and a half hours' flight to Paris.

Then I hang out in Paris for about 5-7 hours.

Then I fly to Lisbon, Portugal for another two hours or so.

Then I hang out in Lisbon for about 5-7 hours.

FINALLY, after a final two-hour flight . . . I'll probably be really smelly by then . . . . .

. . . yeah, Shadow's in for a treat, I'll bet . . . bwahaha.


I'm still alive, and Enin kept me company online while I was here. I'll be fine.

As always, everyone, take care of each other. Much love and all that.
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Sunday, June 17, 2007

Mimmi's shorter than I thought . . .
I helped Mimmi clean up some wood bits and stuff outside her house. Then I climbed on the scaffolding because she said I could; it was enjoyable.

So yeah, this is my second day here in Skövde with myOtaku's most favourite Swedish girl in the whole wide world. It's been fun so far. Her parents are great, her sisters are hilarious . . . and they ALL love telling really bad jokes. It's actually quite amazing that a family can pull together for such things as this . . . goodness . . .

It is a shame that I'm only really here for another day and then I'm off again. My Swedish leg of my trip shall be quite short, unfortunately. Ah well . . . guess that means I have to come back again some time. On the plus side, there's incentive for travel besides knowing people here: they ALL speak English in Sweden! Seriously, everywhere you go . . . wait, I talked about that in my last post, didn't I? In any case, I found it neat that Mimmi's sister mentioned how in school she had to "choose" whether she would learn English in the American style or the British style (so as to stay consistent). And then they told bad jokes again.


Just jumped around the pages a bit. Umm . . . Alexa had a scary experience. And I'm on the other side of the world. I'm sure she's fine now, but just as I said the last time one of us had a scary experience, everyone take care of each other, okay?

I'll post back again once I can. Be well, everyone . . . I'm not back just yet.
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Friday, June 15, 2007

   Boredom . . . it´s posting time!
So I arrived in Göteborg no sweat, save I forgot that I had a large bottle of liquid in my carry-on baggage and had to check that in instead of having it with me on the plane . . . d´oh. But yeah, I got here, got my new kind of money, took a train to where I hoped was the right place (turned out it was), and . . . after getting a hotel room for the night (quite close to the train station, might I add), headed out to explore this corner of this city . . .

. . . . . well, the first place I wanted to see was closed when I got there. The second place was GOING to close in the next half hour. This excursion was not going according to plan . . .

On the plus side, everyone I´ve spoken to behind a desk or cash register has spoken wonderful English here. Further, a great deal of signage all over the place is in English. This is relieving, for as we all know, I simply do not know Swedish. At all. Period.

So now I´m playing on the internet in a "sidewalk express" thingy in the train station. Evidently, I feel all bored and stuff. Probably miss company again.


Oh yeah, Holland kicked incredible ass. Neat area of the world, great hosts, beautiful roommate . . . doesn´t get much better, I don´t think. I mean, if we had a Wii it could be better, but that´s besides the point.

So yes, Maris´, even though I said it to your face and said it in a different message, I´m saying it again: thanks for a fantastic week.


Oh yeah . . . I have socks sitting in soapy water in the sink in my hotel room still . . . alright, I´d best go grab some kebab and be done with it.

Even though the internet here forced me to buy 90 minutes of internet time first. Blegh . . . I mean, it´s a really cheap 90 minutes, but still . . . . .


Alright, I´m done for now. Talk to you again from . . . Mimmi´s house! Neat.

Take care of each other, now.
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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

   I've yet to learn
Holland rules. Just sayin'.

It's been a very relaxing week here thus far. Lots of home-cooked dinners, chocolate sprinkles for breakfast, and a cat that gets way more attention than any other cat I have ever met in the history of the world. Or my life. Whichever's longer.

But yeah, it's been good here. Saw some gigantic floodgates, an old shipyard (which of course happened after seeing Pirates 3 [which was a brilliant movie that I need to probably see again at some point in the near or late future] so we were all in the mood for hanging out on wooden sailing ships), a theme park involving a bunch of giant-cheeked elf-type people who have pre-dated political correctedness . . . catchy song, though.

Efteling! That's what the place was called! Ahem, anyways . . .


I've been very much enjoying my stay here. Everyone's been very nice to me, I have clean clothes, and I haven't had to hit up a bank machine in many days now. I think I'm gonna survive.

Oh, evidently people in other countries like it when you try to talk local-wise. I didn't think it'd be that amusing for them, but go fig' . . . so yeah, get your yesses, noes, and thank yous all figured out and good things happen . . . or chaotically-minded girlfriends of brothers giggle, whichever comes first.


I think that should be all for now. As always, everyone, take care of each other. Cheers!



Oh yeah, it's said, "mijn lepel is te groot." Thanks, Maris'!
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