Another day in Canada-land: Admin time... (can't you tell this is going to be a fun post already? )

Well, I thought it was about time I kept this up-to-date with what's going on, so here goes...

I've been here all of 3 days, and yet some how it feels like much longer - perhaps just because I've managed to fit so much in.

Post-orientation meeting, various of us went to set up bank accounts and get mobile phones. The bank account was pretty simple as long as you give up any notion of being cheap and simply decide to pay the $12 a month, so as to not accidently incure the wrath of the bank-gods by *shock horror* using their services... Such is life.
I guess it's actually a bit weird that we're not charged for our banks back home - i mean I know they make money on our money, but it's still unusual to not pay for services in this day and age...

Anywayz, any animosity i may have felt towards the banks was immediately suplanted by my new hatred for the phone companies here. Mobiles and contracts here are the very definition of daylight robbery as far as i'm concerned. If they could charge you for breathing near the phone they would - in their advertising having 'unlimited incoming texts' for free is a perk?! Infact, one of my hostel room mates came in just now and said that on the first week of her 1 month contract she'd managed to amass extra charges of over $100! Suffice to say I'm using my phone sparingly and only ever texting people unless absolutely necessary...

All of that took a surprisingly long time and the remainder of the afternoon was largely spent being bedraggled and damp. With plans afoot to go the the job fair at Cypress Mountain the next day, me and Nikki accidently found ourselves sampling the one thing in Vancouver which is cheap - it's enormous pizza slices (along with a fizzy 'grape' drink that was a more radioactive purple that i've ever seen on any grape...) - afterwards feeling immediately guitly since we'd set out for a healthy snack... The evening concluded with "Trivia" (a pub quiz to you and me) at the hostel that the main group is staying in. Being the party animals that we are, by the end of the second round, at just a little before ten, me and Nikki headed back to the hostel unable to keep our eyes open any longer and promptly fell asleep.

Normally I would have to say that Friday morning was a flurry of activity for me, adjusting and printing out my CV (sorry, 'resume'...) and getting all the right copies of documents, but actually I keep waking up so early that it was more like a leisurely stroll of activity. I've never so consistantly worken up at 5am so many days in a row all my life (and while I kind of want it to continue - it's excellent for my productivity in the moring - I also managed to be so tired last night that I went to bed at 8.30 last night and was sound asleep by 9!). Hohum, that sorted I got a shuttle bus up to Cypress mountain - one of Vancouver's 3 main ski hills (the one in the middle, i think... ) - along with British, Irish, Ozzy, Kiwi, Mexican, Austrain, German, and very occasionally Canadian people. An impressive mix in any case. Quite aside from the job fair, it was well worth going up there if for no other reason than the stunning views that you get of the city from above. Unfortunately by the time you get to the top and get out all you can see is ski slopes with no snow on them (very weird sight...), but I did manage to get some pictures from the bus much lower down, as you can see, but no where near the same as at the top. Hopefully if i work up there i'll get the chance to wander around and get a better overview.

The job fair was a strange experience - a bit like a jobs conveyer belt... Hundreds of people sat on one side of the room filling out forms or getting progressively morebored waiting to be called, while on the other side of the room about 20 interviews were taking place simultaneously. I myself had been told that my first choice - guest relations - had a long wait and that i should first be interviewed for my second choice - the generic 'cashier'. Sent to the food and bevs section for this, a very friendly guy took one look at my form, asked me if i wanted full time work and then tried very hard to persuade me to work for him. A good start, I thought. However, I thought it might be jumping the gun to immediately accept the first thing I got when it was already written on a bit of paper that it wasn't my first choice, so i thought I'd wait and see. My second interview was very much more an interview - you can very easily tell which department was more popular! Since they had so many people applying they said they'd let us know sometime this coming week. But in any case, the first guy gave me his card and told me that if for some reason they didn't want me (he thought they 'probably would'), that he would be more than happy to have me and that I should just give him a call. So, I'm waiting to see on that one, but it looks like a can have a job if i want one. In the mean time, we (those of use who are sticking around vancouver) thought we might check out the Grouse mountain jobs fair next week by way of comparison (and for me as a back up if I was stupid enough not to accept the first job offered to me only to find out it no longer exists when i need it!) . In any case, that's on hold for a bit until we find out the results, and now the bigger priority is finding somewhere to live. For every night extra that I spent in a hostel I can just feel my money hemorrhaging into nowhere... We'll probably be looking in North Vancouver, for any one that makes sense to, since it's closer to the mountains, and actually only a 10 minute seabus/15 minute bus away from downtown. But on the other hand, I would love to be in the West End - decisions, decisions... We'll have to wait for the exciting outcome of that one...

Like I said, yesterday ended rather feebly with a 9pm bedtime and a nice long sleep. Just as well, since this morning we went for a hike. A lovely park around a set of water falls called Cypress Falls. Had a mosey around, saw lots of trees and some lovely waterfalls, hugged a tree named 'Steve' and took lots of pretty pictures. Remainder of the day spent being tired, discovering 'Blenz' - a coffee shop that does amazing hot chocolate, as well as serving a decent range of loose leaf teas, including oolong :D Yay tea!, and then looking up potential accomodation options on line. All topped off by a second visit to the lovely Thai place for some noodles. Mmmm...