Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween!

It's amazing how people in North America, including Canada, take halloween seriously - in a fun kinda way of course. I've been watching morning TV all morning for the sheer joy of what each TV station has thought of: newscasters and weather reporters all dressed up and made up. And let's not forget the cutest part of the whole holiday: the trick-or-treaters!

Unfortunately for us this Halloween is pretty much a non-entitity. I'll be working till 9PM, by the time which all the trick-or-treaters will have gone home. At least Dave will be over at Joy's so maybe he'll get see some goblins and ghosts... No parties either, making the news and photos from Ralph and Jim's annual and always fabulous Halloween party (the theme this year: Viva Las Vegas!) make us feel even more isolated. Oh BOO hoo hoo :-)

On a more positive note, since we're not expecting any trick-or-treaters at our appartment, we haven't bought any candy either. Usually by now half of it has been devoured any way, and considering how sparsely we tend to hand out the candy to the kids, we usually end up with a lot for ourselves. I'm sure the Tooth Fairy is letting out a long sigh of relief, as are the deities that control our waist lines... :-)

To put our readers in the mood I thought I'd share a music video that is right on the spot: though the song's good, the video was banned on BBC and MTV - and for a damn good reason too! Check it out (Robbie Williams: Rock DJ):



On a less grusome note, check this one out too; not only cute but talented, too:



Nevertheless, happy Halloween to everyone!!!

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Some of our favourite things :-)

To counterbalance some of our on-going whining here are some things that we do love and appreciate about Canada:

Dim sum (see previous posting)
Sushi (duh)
DeDutch

Just talked to our friends Steve and Dave in Bal'more and watched Halloween party pictures with them (i.e. pics from a party they had gone to). As a result we now have to comfort our souls by eating ourselves silly at DeDutch... Hark, was that a pannekoek I heard call my name? :-)

PS. In a serious of Didjaknow: Did you know the dude who gives Elmo his voice was born in Baltimore?

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Shop, Shop, Shop till You Drop

Tuomo writes: Had a fabulous day of fabulous light shopping. Once we got dressed, we picked Angie (Joy's cousin) up and drove over to Richmond for dim sum. For those of you out there who have not heard of dim sum, it's basically a Chinese style brunch where you order your food as you go from carts pushed around by the staff. Although Dave had insisted on going to Vancouver, where the dim sum restaurant reviewed in National Geographic was, I convinced that we should go to the one a class mate of mine had recommended. This one was supposed to have carts rather than the staff bringing the dishes to your table, an important aspect since neither one of us speaks Chinese and the staff quite often does not speak English. Finding the dim sum restaurant turned out to be more of a challenge than expected, but fortunately that particular area of Richmond literally teams with dim sum restaurants.

We decided to go for the one called Sun Sui Wah Seafood Restaurant. Despite no carts pushed by squat ladies with limited English skills (as in our favourite dim sum restaurant back on the east coast), placing our order was no problem. As the reader who knows us might have guessed, yes, we ended up ordering way too much food! However there were very little left-overs, none of which we had boxed though the staff asked us on many occasions. The food came to our table faster than we'd expected, it was delicious, and Angie, for whom this was the first time out in a dim sum restaurant, said she'd definitely go out for dim sum again. On our way out, the fish tanks caught our attention, and in true adult behaviour, we had to talk to the fish...

Then we made a stop at Aberdeen Mall, just around the corner from Sun Sui Wah. Angie wanted to go to this Japanese two-dollar store, i.e. a store where nothing cost more than two dollars. Whoo boy, was that ever a discovery; bless a find like her!! Let's put it this way, a certain friend of ours, whose alter ego goes by the name Gigi, would've had a field day! Not that Dave and I managed our shopping behaviour in any more controlled manner... I believe our bill ran surprisingly low $38 (considering the temptations...), and we both agreed we'd go back (lots of ideas for stocking stuffers!).

Then off to Granville Street for some leisurly window shopping and then to Chintz & Co. on Homer Street. A little too Christmas-y right now, but definitely a place to return to for some fabulous chotchkes! Mandatory coffee break at Starbucks, and then a walk around the block (we even discvered a store that sold stuff by Marimekko and Iittala!!!). Faboo!

Before going home, we tried some retail shopping, but unfortunately we ran into another Bagel Issue: Canadians do not value retail shopping on Saturdays after 6PM (they allegedly prefer to spend time together at their homes rather than shopping together... what a novel concept!). Therefore we hung around some time at Chapters and then decided to go for some Bellinis at Milestones, home of the best Bellinis around! In the end we had two each, with the second round spiked with some raspberry flavored vodka. Throw in some Thai chicken wings and artichoke dip, and we both stuffed (we had all been burping up dim sum flavors all day, so the appies just enough for dinner) and lit - whoohoo!

So we're now back home. I cross stitched for a while before working on the blog while Angie and Dave hit the couch to watch HGTV (surprise!), so now it's time for me to join them. I wonder if there's anything in the kitchen pantry as a late evening snack... Finn Crisps, or hapankorppuja anybody?!

Friday, October 26, 2007

Yo Canada!

Tuomo writes: Before anybody gets hurt, let us explain a couple of things. We moved to Langley almost four months ago (June 27 to be precise). With the exception of one instance, the red tape was easy and pleasant to deal with (Walrus Lady out there, you know who you are!). The mountains are spectacular; Mt. Baker across the border (80 km/50mi to the south east) is a sight to behold being more accustomed to flat landscapes. People at Starbucks are genuinely friendly, they almost systematically ask if we want room for milk, and the treats are to die for. Thanks to their oat fudge bars, unavailable in the States, our initial plan Canada = Health remains as elusive as on Day One. Hah!

Then there’s the whole gay couple thing. It’s been amazing to be able to be treated as a couple rather than either do the same thing twice or have to explain why the person you live with and whose name and number you’re submitting as the closest contact person happens to be of the same sex. Yet another reason to love Canada!

Unfortunately, then gradually the every-day reality began to kick in. Prices are higher than south of the border, made only even more so aggravating considering that the exchange rate, initially at par, is now in favor to the Loonie. The selection of stores and goods made us realize that we had moved to a foreign country. Perhaps the biggest shock has been that there are no Targets in Canada. For crying out loud, where’s one to buy fabulous, yet inexpensive stuff to make life fun?! Walmart is definitely not the answer! The local Bay, the closest equivalent to Macy’s in the States or Stockmann’s in Finland, does not quite cut it either. Extra sharp cheddar, bagels, Close-Up, Target, Borders Music, … the list of articles that are not available in Canada is considerable; recently our inability to locate canned yams at our local supermarket was also a cause for some commotion.

So despite these shortcomings, um… we mean slight differences, we do love Canada, our new home country, we do, though then there’s also the issue of weather… oh well you get the point!

Understandably the reader of our blog will by now have gotten the impression that we are two whiners, a statement which we are the first ones to agree with. However, we’d like to point out that the word bagel is also meant to refer to non-material things that we are currently missing, either together (Maryland) or individually (Rhode Island and Finland). We left a large amount of high-quality friends behind (a k a The Champagne Ladies), and to date we have not made any new ones other than our family members and colleagues and co-workers (not that we’ve made much of an effort to expand beyond them either). In other words, the word bagel also means things like friends and other valuable aspects of life.

Then there’s the aspect of growing older. This past week, I’ve been wasting away plenty of time on Wikipedia and YouTube, looking up info on my favorite pop stars of the 80s and 90s. It’s amazing how much info there is out there – and all that at the tip of your fingers. So when we’re wondering on the whereabouts of our bagels, we’ll also be reflecting on where the time has gone. Like I was 20 and a freshman at the University of Helsinki just a bat of an eye ago…! Auuugh!

On that note, I’d like to include a link to Dave’s and my favorite Finnish group of yesteryear, Ultra Bra and one of their songs Villiviini (“Wild Vine”); Dave loves this so much that he has even bothered to learn the lyrics and knows how to sing along in perfect Finnish! Enjoy!

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

What's going on? (Part 1)

Tuomo writes: Since this is a day off from school, I've been just hanging around. Mailed some thank you notes. Had lunch at Tim Hortons. Cross stitched for a while. Prepared my plan for Finnish class for tonight (numbers, times, phone numbers). Wasted a lot of time on Wikipedia and YouTube :-) I should probably work on my informational interviews, but I can finish those tonight when I come back from teaching; I'd rather indulge myself in the pleasures of blogging.

I kinda like my Wednesdays (mini-weekends) because that's a day off from my Monday-through-Friday routine at Kwantlen (Richmond Campus) where I'm attending the Career Choices and Life Satisfaction course. This started way back in September when Dave saw an ad in the local paper for a course for people considering career changes. The campus was also just around the corner, so rather than mindlessly surfing the Internet for open positions to which I'd never send my application, this seemed like a more structured approach to establishing myself in Canada. I talked to the coordinator of the program (a very nice lady), and although the program was geared towards women only (though the coordinator was trying to make it co-ed), I decided I was ready for this. Unfortunately the group didn't become co-ed and/or all the seats were taken, so I was referred to the coordinator of the same program in Richmond. Same interview again, and voila I was enrolled!

The syllabus consists of tests to discover our occasionally hidden interests and skills, getting to reflect on our goals and values, and - best of all - actively sought opportunities to explore careers (interviews, practicums, etc.). A two-week period of an opportunity to job shadow in the campus' Learning Center, where I've been tutoring in ESL since Monday (!), might be coming up, so keep your fingers crossed...

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Welcome - Tervetuloa - Bienvenue - Välkommen!

Tuomo writes: Maybe this time this will work out - a blog of my (or our) own where I can keep a on-line journal all about our new FABULOUS life in Langley, British Columbia. It's been almost four months since our move (more on that in a later blog perchance) and we're still adjusting.

A funny thing about living in Canada is that in essence it is very similar to living in the United States where we emigrated from (another topic to write more on in a later blog!). People speak English (with an accent though- or is it us, eh?), watch the same TV shows on the same TV channels, commute in their own cars, complain about conjested traffic, etc. Everythings seems more or less the same Except that some things are just plain different or just don't exist here. Like decent bagels (hence the name of our blog). Or Target. Close-Up. Extra-sharp cheddar. Fat-free ___.

Or could it be that we now live in a (gasp!) foreign country?! :-) A theme to be developed in blogs, weeks, months (years?) to come...