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Published: January 5th 2007
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Converted Hockey Fan!
Santa was kind to someone! Now he is a true Canadian! Hi all!
Firstly we hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and New Years and that you all managed to have a bit of a break and enjoy a beverage or two!
Last time we wrote we were in Durham, staying with Marks’ Nan, who was tickled pink with our company! She even took us to church to “show us off” to all her friends in the congregation!! So we had some down time staying there and managed to fill up our hours looking for a car only to find absolute duds. During our time in Durham we both managed to secure jobs in Collingwood (which was only an hour away) on Blue Mountain- Mark in retail and I in hospitality, and secure accommodation in the town. So we did do some good work while we were there!
Our Christmas was one never to forget! We had a lovely Christmas morning at Marks’ aunt’s (Cathy) house in Toronto where we had a leisurely breakfast before going down to the lake for a walk. Christmas dinner was a bit more exciting however, and for all the wrong reasons! We spent it at Mark’s uncles house having dinner for 17!! Definitely
Mmmmm Christmas pies...
I think someones eyes are bigger than their stomach.... my biggest Christmas dinner ever! At the same time as dinner was being served 911 was also being called! An elderly ex-neighbor who was dining with us was not looking flash and upon questioning her son it turned out that she was diabetic and hadn’t eaten for 7 hours! Hmmmmm…. To make it worse she had also had a fall the previous night and was screaming that she was in pain! Meanwhile Mark’s Nan kept insisting that I go in there and save her as Mark’s aunty is trying to get everyone to sit down to dinner. Needless to say the patient was indeed having a hypoglycemic attack, proven when the paramedics took her blood sugar of 1.6, and once we gave her some food she was good as gold and the pain was ok!
The patient was not to be outdone however by the family friend who is at Christmas dinner and has been drinking ALL day! She decided to give Mark an education on Australian history and asked us how it felt coming from a convict background and were we ok with having no real roots?! As she was swaying in her chair she also yelled down
Walk it off!
This is Lake Ontario, on Christmas Day with Cathy, Adrian and Shadow. Its so massive that if you look out over the water you can't see the other side. You could be mistaken for thinking it was the ocean! to the end of the dining table that she thought Mark’s aunts’ fiancé (Adrain) was cute before harassing him later in the evening! Definitely some good entertainment there! Anyway dinner was lovely and we came home absolutely stuffed just as one should on Christmas day!
Boxing Day we thought we would be brave and head into Toronto and check out the bargains. We were warned that it was going to be crazy but we shrugged it off and caught the “street car” (aka - tram) into town. Ok- so it was absolutely crazy! We went to the biggest mall and had to line up for like 20 minutes to get into the bigger stores with crazy markdowns. There were security guards on the doors and lines streaming around corners. Then once you got into the store of your choice you then had to line up for another 30 minutes inside the store just to get to the cash register! We then deemed Boxing Day officially crazy! Melbourne has a fair way to go to get that crazy!
So the plan was then to find a car in Toronto and head back to Collingwood to settle into our new
Scarborough Bluffs
One of our dog walking parks. It is even beautiful on an overcast day. home and start our jobs the first week of January. A car we did find- a very well preserved Jeep Cheroke (swish we know!) which will power us up the mountain and to our jobs! Well we would start our jobs if the bloody mountain was open!!! There is this crazy heat wave going on at the moment and it is about 8+ degrees above average. No white Christmas for us and since then there has only ever been dustings of snow when we wake up in the morning! Needless to say there is no snow on the mountain or even the ability to make snow, as it is too bloody hot!
We are currently biding our time in Toronto with Marks aunt who has kindly let us take over her and her fiancés home and life! This week we have had to decide- do we stay on the east coast or do we flee to the west (where there is heaps of snow damn it!) and start all over again with the job and house hunting. So far we are thinking we will stay on the East- there are only shit jobs left on the west and probably
Australia
This was taken just before I did a triple toe spin and jump- Mark was just too quick with the camera! no accommodation so its not worth the risk of driving all the way over there. Next week we will drive to Collingwood and if there is still no work on the mountain we’ll see what else there is. It has to snow eventually! Its so annoying cause it is out of our control and we have already done all the hard work! Anyway its all part of the adventure right?
New Years Eve was a cool night. After having a lovely dinner at home with Cathy and Adrian we headed into the city to check out Adrian’s sons band play at The Bovine Sex Club- don’t worry it wasn’t as dodgy as it sounds! They were pretty cool so we had a few drinks and took in some good people watching! Before midnight struck we ran down to city hall where there was a massive stage set up and bands were playing etc. We made it just in time for the count down and fireworks. There were people galore- it was awesome! We miraculously managed to catch a taxi home where we stayed up and did some more drinking with Cathy and Adrian!
We have done some cool
Finally a car!
Just what we need to get around in! things here in Toronto whilst we have been biding our time. I am pleased to say that we will definitely be joining the Australian Ice Skating Team once we arrive home as our ice skating is improving everyday! We picked up some bargain skates at the sales and there are outdoor rinks that one can skate at or play hockey at for free. We have been skating at one down by the lake- its lovely! Except when you almost get knocked over by the little kids who fly past you backwards while laughing at how retarded you look! Argh! We have also been for heaps of walks with Cathy’s dog Shadow. There is a beautiful park near the Scarborough Bluffs and a long boardwalk down by the lake. Today we were real tourists and with video camera in tow went up and had dinner on the Canadian National tower. We got given a voucher for Christmas to have a swish dinner at the 360 degree revolving restaurant (the highest in the world). It was amazing- both the view and the food!
The weekend brings more tourist attractions and after a family dinner on Saturday night, Sunday we will head
Dinner in style!
The view from our table at the CN Tower. Certainly a dinner to remember! down with the relies to Niagara Falls. And yes with still no snow in sight the weather for Sunday is good so we should have a good day.
That brings us to the end of our excitement for this entry. Hope everyone is well and we hope to hear from you soon! Until next time, missing you all, lots of love, Mark and Susie. xoxo
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Em
non-member comment
Hey
Well you seem to be busy, busy, busy! How eventful your Christmas was. Can't say mine was that eventful, but there was lots of family stuff on and we rocked the Singstar. New Years was also good. I had a great time. Nice and low key at Shaun's. Good night. Just need to get my photos back and see what was actually taken! Back at work now...Boo, but it has been a bludge as the office is pretty much empty. Going to be full on on Monday when everyone gets back in from their break. Keep the blogs coming. Love reading them! Em