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Published: November 10th 2008
Well of course it was Halloween recently and although the Canucks don't go as crazy as the Yanks when it comes to all thinks All Hallow's Eve it is definitely a much bigger deal than it is in Australia.
Lots of shops in the yuppie Yaletown area took part in an organised Trick or Treat event for the kids and of course throughout the suburbs kids were trickin' and or a treatin' during the night - my bowl of sweets definitely got eaten pretty quickly (and not by me!).
I had been invited to a friend's Halloween party (a kiwi guy and aussie girls I'd met at a festival in Seattle back in July) so the night before it was a mad dash to find a costume to fit with their 'Dress for Success' theme. Somehow I ended up with fake lizard print pants, a hideous fake fur jacket and lots of bling .... well the photos speak for themselves!
The party was great fun and everyone loved my outfit which was cool. Also cool was catching the bus to the party and seeing about 50% of the passengers dressed in costume - you sure wouldn't get that
in Perth!!!
Our weekly house dinners have started up again after a short break and the other night I made gnocchi (from scratch) and in a burst of spontaneity made the traditional potato ones as well as green (peas) and orange/red (pumpkin and corn) which together sort of gave us the Italian flag .... Anyhow, my food (well I had helpers too) went down a treat :-)
Sadly my time in Vancouver is rapidly coming to a (temporary) end. As I will be house sitting again soon, in two weeks I have to pack all my stuff and George will be taking over my room.
When I've done house sitting I will spend my last 10 days back at 17th Ave, not in my room but my housemate Ileana's room whilst she is holidaying in Cuba with our other housemate Amanda - confusing huh ?!?
It is freaking me out that I have to pack so soon and that I will have to farewell all my Vancouver friends, especially my 17th Ave housemates as it will be a weird feeling not living with them anymore.
Naturally Vancouverites are generally ecstatic about Obama and the news
(we have little video-newsfeeds in the lifts at work) is all about grim economic times. Boring!
On a more local political level, not only has Canada held national elections (sadly the baddies won) but also province based bi-elections in some areas (some better news politically there) and the City of Vancouver mayoral election is on next week.
As a token Vancouverite, I headed to an interesting ‘Last Candidate Standing’ event last Friday with Dane and my housemates. The upcoming municipal elections have attract many weird and wonderful characters so although there was some interesting things said, the fun really came with the whack jobs. The ‘winner’ was from the Work Less party which seemed to have some great ideas and I cheered loudest for their candidate who reminded me of a young Natasha Spot-destroyer (I’m not going to attempt to spell her name).
Amazingly I've only been to two concerts in the past few weeks and they couldn't have been more different.
Frightened Rabbit are a small band from Glasgow who I saw last year in Manchester and they played their first ever Vancouver gig to a packed but still tiny Media Club crowd of about
150. The crowd went mental for the band which was great.
In total contract, the following night I joined some 55,000 others to witness another first for Vancouver - Madonna!!! Ms Ciccone definitely entertained but I walked away simply glad I got to see her live but didn't feel overly euphoric.
Sadly she played too many of the new album tracks leaving only a few classics like Get into the Groove, Like a Prayer, Like a Virgin and Human Nature. The sound was pretty appalling (typical of a venue of this size, which resembled a bigger Burswood Dome) but this was contrasted by brilliant staging, choreography and lighting.
But I got to see Madonna, that's what it was all about :-)
Well I hope everyone is okay. Special hello to Paul and Larissa who are soon to become first time parents (Mallies sure has turned into a baby factory since I left!!!).
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tamara
non-member comment
gnocchi!
Pete, I want your gnocchi receipe!