New Challenges!

1. Interview with one of your new Canadian friends (include picture): Q1. Name; Q2. Favourite song; Q3. Pet peeve; Q4. Who would you be in an alternate universe?
2. Post lyrics/link to the song that has embodied the spirit of your trip so far and explain why
3. Picture of a Canadian Burger
4. Meet a  stranger, briefly document the meeting. Must include name, picture if possible.
5. Photograph a canadian product that you can't buy in australia and has a humourous/dirty name
6. Practical joke on Alexis George and document it
7. Drink a new cocktail (not the one you had last cocktail challenge). Include Photo evidence.
8. Photograph one of your 'family dinners' and post the recipe
9. Photograph your workplace
10. Write a limmerick about your suburb and what you like about it.

Challenge 2: Park Art

I picked up this leaf from a nearby park at the start of Autumn, just when the leaves started turning a beautiful red/orange colour and falling from the trees. So... I named this artwork "The beginning of the fall". Enjoy!

Challenge 4: Photography tour of my apartment!

This is the view as you walk through the front door - kitchen!

Turn to the right, and... there is the bathroom

The view of the kitchen from the lounge room. Note the lovely flowers care of my wonderful family!

Lounge room + my bedroom doorway (+ Dad's banjo waiting to go home to Oz)

View of the kitchen/lounge room from the front door.... are you starting to sense our unit is very small???

My favourite thing in the unit - the kitchen light switch. Retro!

My bedroom! This dresser is an antique and only cost me $60 - bargain!

Ikea bed.... $10 second hand (mattress not included because that would be gross)!

The lounge room!

View from my bedroom... very exciting.

Challenge 6: Take a trip....

So, technically I was meant to take a bus or train trip, but the truth is, the only place I go on a  bus is to work.... and I don't catch trains except to other parts of town.... and it's pretty hard to take any kind of interesting photos! Therefore, I'm adapting this challenge. This weekend I took a car ride with 4 of my buddies here - Jake, Christen, Lex & Shiloh and we drove to Hells Gate, BC (the narrowest point of the Fraser River), around 2.5 hours away from Vancouver. It was pretty cool and lots of fun! On the way back we stopped at Shiloh's family farm to visit the cows. Here are come of the sneaky photos I took out the window on the way there...

Pretty Canadian Mountains

Waterfall ahead!

"Everyone hold your breath in the tunnel... ready, set... go!"

Mount Baker - a huge mountain in the USA that can be seen from Vancouver!

Challenge 5: Photograph a piece of Canadian street art (graffiti)

This guy does amazing street art downtown as a way to make money. It's different everyday!

Challenge 7: Meet Shiloh!

Name:. Shiloh Minor
Favourite Song: Latter Days, by Over the Rhine
Pet Peeve: The sound that people slurping huge spoonfuls of cold cereal in the morning. 
Who would you be in an alternate universe?: Hard to choose. Up close everyone's life has it's issues. So being a movie character sounds better. I want to be the lead woman from Love and Basketball.

Shiloh & me near Hells Gate, British Columbia

Challenge 9: Drink a Canadian beer

This is Nathan! He is a friend of mine from Saskatchewan, currently living in Vancouver and studying at Regent College. Last night he introduced me to Pumpkin Ale! I can't say I liked it all that much.... but a challenge is a challenge! And yes Jimi... I did drink the whole glass :)

Challenge 3: A little bike around Kits!

Saturday in Vancouver started off as many Fall (Autumn) days do... overcast. Then... all of a sudden..... SUN! So I grabbed Christen's bike and did a little cycle-tour around the streets of Kitsilano (my neighbourhood), stopping at the park for a little "To Kill a Mockingbird" in the sunshine. This photo was taken on 6th Ave which happens to be my favourite street in Kits (due to the beautiful trees)!

Challenge 1: A haiku!

Weekend parties rock
Working on Monday is lame
Four more days to go

Challenge 10: Meet an elderly stranger and briefly document the meeting

Tonight I had the pleasure of going along to "Out of the cold", a program run by one of the churches here in Vancouver to feed the homeless and those that have generally drawn the short straw in life and may not be able to afford a proper meal.

I sat at a table with 5 lovely people as follows:

Claire is 61 years old, though she told me her secret to youthful skin is face cream from the dollar store with Vitamin A in it. She said "why pay $20 when you can buy it for $1?" Amen sister! Sadly though, Claire said she doesn't have any family. Her mum has passed away, no siblings and she has not seen her Dad for 50 years. 

Amy is around 33 years old, from China and has lived here for 20 years. She was very hard to understand because of her accent, but she was super cute and very chatty! Amy came with her friend Sally who was older (late 40's), who was originally from Hong Kong and came to Canada so that her kids could learn English. Unfortunately, I don't know that she sees her kids much and although she has been married twice, she is married no longer.

Dorren is probably in his late 50's early 60's and is a dead ringer for Mr. Miyagi! He has a long beard, wears his hair in a bun on the top of his head, and tonight was rocking some hot pink nail-polish! He loves badges and had a mighty fine collection on his shirt and jacket. He has a friend, a large Canadian man named Rudolph, who also had a long white beard and long white hair. Gold nail-polish was his choice colour! My favourite accessory though was the clothes peg in his beard. What better way to hold it together?!

These 5 lovely people and I enjoyed a delicious meal of meatballs and risotto, together with caeser salad and berry pie for dessert. Dorren finished mine off for me! Altogether it was a great night and I'll be back for sure. I commend 10th Ave Church as well for running such a great program. The need in Vancouver is great and they are living up to the calling we have received. 

Good first attempt... not great though.

Ok, so I only managed to complete 7/10 challenges last round in the time-frame given. Sorry to whoever reads this (if anyone)! I'm going to try much harder this time. The ones I failed to complete have also been repeated - no escape! Here are my next 10 challenges from Jimi. Ready... set.... go!

1. Go on wikipedia, find out how to write a simple 3 line haiku, and write a simple 3 line haiku about your week.
2. Go to your local park, pick up some object and make a small artwork. Photograph it and name the work.
3. Borrow your friends bicycle that you found last challenges and ride it around your suburb for 1 hour. Go down streets you've never been down before. You can stop whenever you like. Take one photo that defines your cycling journey.
4. Photography tour of your apartment + commentary.
5. Photograph a piece of Canadian street art (graffiti).
6. Take a bus/train trip. Take sneaky photos out of the window of interesting things. Also include a photo of the bus/train.
7. Interview with one of your new Canadian friends (include picture): Q1. Name; Q2. Favourite song; Q3. Pet peeve; Q4. Who would you be in an alternate universe?
8. Find a piece of memorabilia from the 1976 Montreal Olympics (blog watcher Matt Edmonds suggestion).
9. Drink a Canadian beer,
10. Meet an elderly stranger and briefly document the meeting.

Challenge 5: A Poem

After a summer of fun in the sun,
my new life of work has begun.
Though I miss sleeping in, the money's a win,
oh look... it's late, I must run!

Challenge 7 & 8: Drink a new cocktail...with someone who owns a bike!

This is my lovely friend Christen! Last night we went out for drinks at The Main and I had one I've never had before as per Challenge 7.... it's called 'Key Lime Pie' and contains Vanilla Vodka, Triple Sec, fresh lime and pineapple juices. Yum! PS - Christen also owns a proper bike - Challenge 8 - boom.

Christen's famous green bike

Key Lime Pie with Christen

Challenge 9: A funny street sign... sort of!

So the challenge was to find a funny street sign. But, I misread it and just found a funny sign.

Whilst out walking with my friend Christen yesterday, we walked passed an ice-cream van with a dude sitting in the drivers seat, with his sunnies on, kinda just staring into the distance. Then I saw the sign on the car "WATCH CHILDREN". Hmmmmm....

The Child Watcher & Me

He turned out to be not so creepy after-all... though perhaps slightly stoned - a very commonplace practice in Vancouver!

Challenge 1: Meet Stranger Dan

As some of you now, I used to learn LA style salsa for a few years and loved it! So in the interest of getting back to one of my lost loves, I went along to a Cuban salsa class last night with my friend Meaghan. It was lots of fun and I decided to conquer 'Challenge 1: Meet a stranger', which resulted in meeting a guy named Dan. Dan is Canadian born, but has lived in many places including South America, the US & England. He mainly grew up in Colombia so, like an self-respecting Australian, I immediately started with the 'drug-lord' jokes. He took it pretty well :) I asked him what Colombia was most famous for (because apparently the drug thing is a misconception) and he told me it was coffee. Who knew?! Probably you.... but hey, I don't drink coffee! He also had a background in LA style salsa so we bonded over that.. and a glass of port. All in all, a good meeting!

Challenge 3: A (not so) significant Canadian building!

When I was leaving my job in Sydney, one of my lovely clients informed me that Vancouver was home to the narrowest building in the world. Being a 'Guinness Book of Records' & 'Ripley's Believe It or Not' lover, this intrigued me! I tracked it down the other day and it is called the Sam Kee Building. It stretches along one streetfront like a regular commercial building. But, when you look closely, it's only 1.8 metres (about 6 feet) deep! See here for more fantastical information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Kee_Building

Me & Sam Kee!

Challenge 10: Interview with Julie!

Name: Julie from Calgary (who also lived in Australia for 16 years!)

Favourite Song: At the moment, 9 Crimes by Damien Rice

Pet Peeve: People chewing with their mouth open (I hear ya girl!)

In an alternate universe I would have been…: Nelson Mandella because he was highly active in social justice.

Julie & me 

The First 10

Ok… here we go!

1. Meet a stranger - document the meeting, however significant it is. You must include their name.
2. Go to your local park, pick up some object and make a small artwork. Photograph it and name the work.
3. Photograph a significant Canadian building. Tell me what they do in that building.
4. Photography tour of your apartment + commentary.
5. Write a poem about one or more aspects of your week. It must be two-line minimum.
6. Take a bus/train trip. Take sneaky photos out of the window of interesting things. Also include a photo of the bus/train
7. Drink a new cocktail (one you have never had before.)
8. Locate someone with a bicycle (part 2 to come in next week’s challenges)
9. Find and photograph funny street sign (you must be in the photograph also).
10. Interview with one of your new Canadian friends (include picture):

Q1. Name
Q2. Favourite song
Q3. Pet peeve
Q4. Who would you be in an alternate universe?