After my shopping spree last week, I decided to do 2 days work with Ray and Darren. Darren owns his own landscaping business, he needed an extra person to help do a maintenance job at a huge old peoples home and I happened to be standing there when he realised he needed an extra body...So I donned my 'old clothes', put on my hiking boots and got up at 6.30 (eugh!) while it was still dark and went out with Ray. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to show the muddy grassy state I was in by the end of the day, but it was a very physically demanding job using the industrial sized mowers, leaf blowers and putting up with the rain. But weirdly I enjoyed it, being outside and seeing what we accomplished at the end of the day was very satisfying and I can finally say that I've put in a 'real days work'. My body is just about getting over the shock of it all!!

Friday, I finally managed to open a bank account, their banks are different to ours cos they charge you to use them!! But as I am an 'immigrant' I qualified for a passport account which gives me 6 months free. Because it was Halloween, the staff at the bank were all dressed up and they were giving out candy.

Later that day, Darren and Ange turned up with the kids (see pictures!) all dressed up in their costumes. We went to the Mall where the shop staff stand at the door way and the kids run round collecting candy from them. It was a surreal moment, being surrounded by kids of all shapes and sizes dressed as dinosaurs, ducks and dracula's. It was awesome though, I just kept looking around in amazement at the effort that goes in to that one day. The adults were equally in to it, with a lot of them in full costumes. We ate in the Mall, as did everyone else it seemed and it was the weirdest thing sitting there, in the mall, surrounded by people dressed up in costumes but acting as if it was the most normal thing to do! I loved it!

Saturday was a very busy day. I got up early (again, some things going wrong here!) and caught the bus to Courtenay, where I met up with Katie, who was on my BUNAC flight over. She had been traveling from Vancouver all morning so she was pretty tired. Eric (another cousin) came and picked us up and drove us up the Mountain which I am going to be working on. I met my new boss, a very friendly fellow! Eric said that the department which I am joining is the party department, which is just so not me....:-P I guess I'll jut have to try and join in the best I can!! Hehe!!

Katie got a job in the same department, so hopefully we will get on well as now we will be living and working together! Well as long as we can find an apartment to share that is. There is only 1 bus that goes up to the mountain when the season starts, it is a free staff bus which goes from one place. So we have been on a mission to find an apartment that is as near to that place as possible!! I am going back up there in a few hours to look at a place. Hopefully it will be ideal and we won't have to look for anywhere else!

After Eric and I dropped katie off at a hostel, he took me back to his house where I met Brielle (1 next week) and Andrea, his girlfriend. Eric and Andrea had been out at a Halloween party the night before and hadn't rolled in until 5.30am, so they were both pretty tired. I think I will get on just fine living up near them!

I got back on the bus to come back down to the Nanaimo, as I had my own party to go to that evening with Darren and Ange. It was awesome! They had a huge fire going on outside, which I swear I got a tan from. It was raging! I met a lot of cool people and we drank out of red cups, just like they do in the movies... The clocks went back that night so we got an extra hour of partying in but got in at a resonable 2.30am. You can see pictures from the event in my album.

So yesturday I was in recovery. I lazed around and looked up potential places to live. Then watched the Cunucks loose to Detroit in the Ice Hockey.

So hopefully the next time I write I will have a place to live!

Until then.....

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