I am a child

I manage to find humour in the most ridiculous and immature things. To me toilet humour is not old or childish, it's brilliant. I am the sort of person that has a meltdown when something is only mildly funny to everyone else. I'd like to think it's one of my most adorable *cough* qualities!

So, here are my 3 favourite "lost in translation" sayings/moments.

Fingering:

Thought you'd heard the last of that in High School? Move to Canada and you'll find you're sorely mistaken.

Friend 1: "If you ever see a guy fingering you from a seedy van, you'll know it's him"

Us: "?????"

Friend 2: "Yea he always fingers me from his van when he drives past"

Us: "Waaiiiittttt???? Do you mean gives you the finger?"

Friends: "Ummm yes. What did you think?"

Us" "Welllllll........"

Gross. Canadians are gross!

Canada: Flipping the bird
Australia: I think it's fairly obvious... but just in case: 3rd base

Roots:

Roots is a Canadian brand. They have lots of nice stuff. BUT IT'S CALLED ROOTS!!!

I don't know if this is a new thing, but a lot of the clothing has a beaver on it. This CANNOT be a coincidence!

Taking photos of my Roots Beaver

Canada: A Canadian brand, something that bears eat
Australia: F*#cks

Fanny:

This isn't as common in Canada as it is in the US, but if you really want to creep out an Australian, tell them "I can't have another serving of dessert, it'll go straight to my fanny!".

"If I have Poutine once more, my fanny won't fit into my jeans"

Canada: Bum

Australia: Lady bits

You just can't make this stuff up!

Also: Poutine is chips and gravy with cheese curd. OH. MY. GOODNESS. It's kinda like melted cheese on your chips and gravy. But better. So much better!

Ok, so this time we were a little piratey

WE CAME 5th!!! The Pirates are the greatest! Or the 5th greatest at least!!

This weekend we had a beach volleyball tournament in Kamloops. It was generally the same teams we play during the week, but it ran over a whole day. Rather than being in different pools (where we're C of D) we had to play against people who were much, MUCH better than us.

Pete after a rather unimpressive (outcome) face plant

We were the only ones dressed up, and the only ones who brought a sweet amount of gear to keep us entertained. People were jealous of our get-up, until they saw us play. During pool play it was all bad news. We didn't win a single game and were ranked 12th .... out of 12. It was not looking promising.

Drinks/Pool break

Luckily, during the quick break we stocked up on enough beer and smokies to make us semi amazing. We then had to play best of 3 (like regular beach volleyball, but nothing we'd done), which at one stage meant playing 5 games in a row. Half cut. In 36 degree weather. After playing 5 previous games. Painful!

Trying to stay cool and hydrated!

Some how we managed to win 2 matches, get flogged in the next, then win our last one by default as that team got too hot/tired and went home! Best. Outcome. Ever!

6 in the pool

I'm here with all of my people (raarr rarrr raarr)

We've been on the road again so this is a delayed post about our amazing trip to Lake Louise.

We stayed in Lake Louise for 2 nights over the August long weekend, with Jemma and Ian, and Greg and Olivia (friends from Cobar who live in Vancouver).

Enjoying a cheeky pit stop at Revelstoke

The weather couldn't have been better. For all those people who said we'd freeze to death in Canada, I don't think I've had a better summer in about 5 years. No doubt during winter I'll wonder if I'll ever be warm again, but for now it's all very nice.

So it turns out that O'Hara and Jemma have some pretty impressive skills when it comes to planning a weekend away. They managed to prepare 2 amazing meals for 6 of us, steak and ribs, all ready to put on the BBQ once we wanted to eat. Bulk limes and rum was also included, and I was assigned official mixologist for the weekend (yay me!)

Mmmmmm mojitos!

O'Hara is still the only one not to have seen a bear. Jem and Ian managed to spot a Grizzly on the Gondola up Lake Louise! Lil and I did our best to call the bears out while walking to the top of the mountain, but didn't have any luck. We even used The Presets "My People" as our theme song, but nothing. Maybe in the Autumn you'll have more luck O'Hara?

We made it to the top! I make them jump!

Sweet view

We spent the rest of the day cooling off in the glacier lake of Lake Louise, kayaking and drinking copious amount of wine. So much so, it seemed like an awesome idea to serenade the cars in front and behind us during the traffic jam on the way home. Poor O'Hara was DD and didn't find me nearly as funny as I found myself. Standard!

Oh hello beautiful

The photos make it seem serene, but in reality there were hundreds and HUNDREDS of people there. For some reason I associate crazy crowds with European sights, not Canada. This was obviously very misguided. Still, we worked out our timing pretty well and managed to park close to the lake, some unlucky ones had around a 3km walk to get in. Bummer!

The happiest type of picnic

The Rocky Mountains is an incredible place. It was the first place that we've been to that really felt "Canadian". O'Hara and I will hopefully get back to the Banff area for the ski season. Jasper is supposed to be incredible and I'd like to visit the place Mum and Dad worked while in Canada. Plus there is Lake O'Hara. Sounds like it would be a pretty awesome lake!

Kamloopa Pow Wow

We went to our first Pow Wow!

Pow Wows are a gathering of Native American People where they compete in different events such as dancing, singing or playing drums. There was also a selection of traditional food, clothing and other merchandise. Personal favourite was a store that sold girls dance outfits, and one was Barbie brand. Would Native American Barbie be PC??

Grand Parade where all the competitors come out together

Kamloopa Pow Wow is one of the biggest Pow Wows in Western Canada. It goes over 3 days and there were hundreds and hundreds of people who had travelled from around Canada and the US to compete!

I can't imagine anything better as a little girl (or boy I guess) getting to camp out with your friends, wear awesome outfits and dance! I was pretty jealous, especially of the beautiful head dresses.

Drum and singing competitors. AMAZING!

For dinner we had Bannock (traditional fried flat bread - a bit like a doughnut) and Indian Taco *giggle* (Bannock with Chili, lettuce, cheese and salsa). It was delicious. Interesting note: Bannock is INCREDIBLE with Vegemite!!

Indian Taco!!

JIan visit and August Long Sneak Peek

Okanagan Wine Tasting

Whitewater Rafting

Wheels goes on his first adventure

Lake Louise Hiking

Calling the bears

Canoeing Lake Louise

Wine and Cheese

Kayaking Lake Louise

Swimming in the glacier lake

Drunk in Lake Louise

We've had a big week! 

Jemma and Ian visited on their way back to Australia (they've been travelling for nearly 4 MONTHS!!) They went on some local adventures with O'Hara as he was on days off.

We went to Lake Louise for the BC Day Long Weekend. Friends from Cobar, who now live in Vancouver joined us in hiking, drinking, eating, kayaking, drinking and eating.

It's been brilliant! Full update will follow!

Look mum, I can make stuff

Canada has an incredible fruit season over summer. All the stone fruit and berries. I'm in heaven.

I made an attempt to can peaches... It was a bit of a fail. The peaches weren't quite ripe enough and I didn't succeed at all at splitting them in half!

Still 3 jars of potentially delicious canned peaches!

Who is the biggest sports fan?

This is the second time in a row we've been overseas during the summer Olympics. In 2008 we were in London (bad timing huh?) and got to experience first hand the England vs Australia rivalry. This was also the first time GB competed as one "country" (still sceptical) and the first time they beat us in the medal count in who knows how long.

Needless to say it was painful.

The thing I could appreciate though, was fire that goes down between the two countries and their fans. It's brilliant.

Now, I am overly competitive and look for a competition in nearly everything. To a point where I feel it's one of my bad traits, but I've yet to find that same fire in Canada. It's making me sad. I have two friends from Canada who've made the trip to London and are at a few events, they are my heroes. The most I've got from anyone else was "I just hate the f*#$ing Yanks".

On the other hand my boss and myself have been hunched, screaming over my phone screen at work and crying a little every time we got silver. So that's been fun!

My life during the 2012 Olympics

Canadians are super sports fans don't get me wrong. Hockey fans are almost manic and I've heard the winter Olympics are wild. But they don't seem to have the same "if it's a good game/race it's good viewing" attitude that Australia does so well.

I have a theory that Canadians have a deep hatred of losing to America and therefore the Olympics are a brutal display for them.

Maybe it's that they don't get how the Olympics works CTV Overall Medals (they think they're coming 11th -but this works in Australia's favour so shouldn't complain).

It's pretty hard to see, but the total medals are tallied rather than gold being worth more...

Or maybe it's just that their love of sports stems from the winter months and spending days stuck in your house. In summer everyone in Canada is too busy camping/boating/at the lake to get into sports. Australia has cricket, therefore sitting inside drinking beer on a 30+ day is acceptable...

If anyone has the secret I'd love to know. Also tips for getting Canadians riled up about the Olympics?? Please! I've only got a week left!