Fiddle, Canada Day, Surfing, and much more!

On Tuesday (I think) Barnabas and Junko came home and Junko had a fiddle for me! She rented it for a month from the same people who rented us the guitar. I was stunned and so happy! I had mentioned to earlier that I was interested in learning the instrument at some point, and now I get to do it! That day the three of us went to a Japanese restaurant called "Yoshi Sushi". We originally were going to go to a place called "Sushi, Eh" but it was closed. We had a bunch of different dishes and it was spectacular. Sosososo good. I also took and failed my driver's written test after all that stupid formality and waiting for stuff. Phooey. But it is no problem because I have studied for the one I am taking Friday morning and I have gotten 100% on the practice quiz. I will undoubtedly succeed on Friday. Also on Tuesday, Junko and I went to play badminton, and she ended up coaching me. We had an entire gym all to ourselves and the court was good and the birdies were top-notch and the rackets were great and the coaching was excellent. (Junko is a very accomplished player and coach. She started a badminton school and had several nationally ranked students. Barnabas told me this, Junko would never say that unprompted. She is really freaking good) It was like a badminton dream.
Wednesday was Canada Day, and we had lots of fun. Barnabas, Junko, Bobby and I went outside onto the porch at 10 o'clock and sang O Canada. Then Barnabas popped a bottle of champagne and he tried to get the cork to go past the backyard fence. He said jokingly, "If it goes over the fence we'll have a good year". It barely went halfway to the fence, and it was really quite anticlimactic. After that we went to a place called the "White Spot" for breakfast. Barnabas had eggs Benedict and Junko and I had french toast with strawberries. Yum. Later that day Barnabas and I rode the scooters to a park that I forget the name of. It was neat. In one spot there was a bunch of rocks that connected two islands, and on one side the waves were coming in and on the other side the current was drifting away from us. The winds were very powerful so it was something to see. While there we ran into Ray, the owner of "Sink or Swim Scuba", where I will be taking a quick introductory scuba swim. I am going to go to a swimming pool and for about two hours I will be underwater testing all the equipment and learning about scuba diving. I am looking forward to it. Another neat thing that I am going to do, which is this Monday, is a belaying course for rock climbing. It should be fun, and after I take the course I can climb at the place for free, providing I put in an hour of help for each day I go. I had a great day and a nice evening with cards and music and Canada Day fun. Also, "So You Think You Can Dance" was on and it was a competitive week. The people that I don't usually like did well.
I am so lucky to be here.
On Thursday I worked at Bobby's house with Evan removing soundproofing from the walls. After taking off the soundproofing stuff, we stacked them and put them in garbage bags. Then we chiseled and scraped the walls as much as we could. After that we doused the walls with water and scrubbed like madmen to get rid of the glue that remained. It was and is pretty hard, and we haven't finished. I tried to do as much as I could with just my left arm, because later I went to play squash. Junko and Barnabas got me squash shoes! I have been playing for about a week now and I have progressed pretty well thanks to Barnabas' coaching. I like the sport a LOT.
Tomorrow (or today I guess...it's 1:16am) morning I am going to wake up at 8:30 and take my driver's test. Then Barnabas, Junko, Bobby, Evan, and me are going to Ucluelet to go surfing! Apparently it is a sought-after surfing destination.
This blog is good for me because it helps me to stay awed at how lucky am. I've said it once and I'll say it a bunch more. I am so happy to be here with such nice and generous people.
Anyway, we'll be in Ucluelet til Monday, so I may not get back to this til then.
:)

Back in Action

I missed several days, but now I will fill in all the missing bits.
So, I think the last time I checked in was Thursday morning. Dag, yo. The problem with this gap is that I might leave out some details. Oh well, it'll probably come back to me as I write it.
On Thursday, Evan's music thing was canceled so we didn't go to that. I am pretty sure that Thursday was the day of my first squash experience. It was awesome! There is a squash club not far from the house, and it is a neat place with friendly people. Plus, squash is really really fun. That day I also met Don, Bobby's cousin. He is a nice guy. Junko, Barnabas, Evan and me were supposed to go to the movie that night but it was sold out. Barnabas bought three advance tickets for Friday, because Junko wouldn't be there, as she left for Whistler for a "girl's weekend" on Thursday night. Then we went to bed.
On Friday, I continued my job search and application filling out, and I tried to sort out the driver's permit thing. Actually, Junko and I did that on Thursday or Friday, I don't remember. Anyway, I found out what I have to do and I will get it soon. At about 7, Evan, me, and Evan's friend Jordan went to Transformers without Barnabas. The three of us were planning to go together, but Barnabas had the Realtor guy coming over to evaluate the price of the house at 7:15. Sure enough, the Realtor canceled on Barnabas soon after we left. What crummy luck. The movie was good, though, possibly better than the first one.
Saturday was another stay at home look for jobs day, and I had been making good progress. I also took a walk down to the beach and took a whole bunch of pictures, but most got deleted for some reason. Barnabas finished he steps and it looks great. I still have some pictures left though...
They've got a bunch of bird feeders and Barnabas has told me some cool facts about different birds.
My original plan was to have a series of pictures showing all the way down, but now most of them are gone. I'm sure I'll get some more later.
Yeah I had about 30 or 40 pictures originally, but not anymore. The next couple are from the beach.
Oh yeah I nearly forgot. The island is jam-packed with deer. At some points there seems to be a deer in everyone's front yard. On two different occasions I've seen baby deer suckling their mothers, and the other day there were a about four deer in the side yard. I took more than one photo, but this next one is the only one that didn't get deleted. Thankfully its the picture of the baby. It is a bit fuzzy though...

On Sunday, uncle Barnabas showed me some local parks, and we did a lot of walking. It is really neat because there are lots of parks, but some are in unexpected places. They are little trails that run through the woods and by the creeks and far away from the hustle and bustle of the roads, spitting you out in different places. After exploring, we went downtown to a Greek/Lebanese restaurant and we ate. I had a hummus lamb lettuce garlic and tomato pita wrap and Barnabas had couscous. I thought I didn't like couscous but I tried Barnabas' and I liked it. On the way home we stopped by Blockbuster to un-return a movie and we rented the last two episodes of the first season of trueblood. I had been waiting to catch up on it for a long time. Now I'm all caught up, because we watched the latest episode. Barnabas and I think Junko have been big fans of the show for a while now...
Come to think of it I'm not sure that all that happened on Sunday, but it doesn't matter.
I just remembered that at some point Barnabas and I ate at a restaurant downtown and I had a yummy chicken caesar salad. He had eggs benedict that he ordered soft but they were hard boiled. I also had a Shirley Temple that didn't match my previous idea of what a Shirley Temple is. It had grenadines, but the juice that was in the glass along with the grenadines didn't seem like ginger ale. It was good regardless.
My final thought is this:
While at the Shirley Temple and eggs benedict restaurant, there were two men sitting behind us. Of the two, I saw one of them. He had an accent that I later identified as South African. I found it interesting because while he spoke I was trying to place his accent. My train of thought went something like this:
Scottish
Irish
English
Australian
New Zealand-ian?
South African
I knew he was South African when he started talking about the World Cup.
The other guy was interesting because I couldn't see him. While he was talking, I used my imagination to guess what he looked like. He started talking about some kind of surgery, then about the sport he played. However, he didn't make it clear what sport it was until he mentioned "the draft" and "the CFL". He was really trying to build himself up to the other guy, because they obviously had met recently, and he was trying to make himself look good. He kept talking about how his injuries kept him back, and how he was a top-ten draft prospect. He talked about how somehow he "fell of the radar" during the draft and he fell to the 6th round, where the Winnipeg Blue Bombers picked him up. He said he went from a top pick to a botom-of-the-pile afterthought. For some reason I envisioned him as a buff blond white guy, but when I turned around I discovered he was quite the opposite. After that little episode, I was curious to find out who he was. I used my detective techniques to find out all the people Winnipeg had drafted in 2009, and there were only four or five.Turns out the CFL draft is only 6 rounds. After looking at all the picks, I found that the only black guy that they drafted was drafted in the 6th round. His name is Thaine Carter and he played for Queens College. He was named Canada's top defensive player in his senior year fo college.
And even more breaking news! (I am researching this as I write it) Thaine Carter is from Nanaimo!
I should get paid for this stuff

Today
I have applied to a bilion places (actually more like 12) and gone in to get my liscence, but the machines at the liscence place were down today and I haven't heard back from any of the places I applied to. It is a shame that I don't have any solid prior experience to list for these applications, and it works against me that I am only here until August 3. I hope I can get a job more easily back home, and I hope I can get a job that I'll be able to list other than refereeing babysitting and painting Julie Phipps' house. GOSH!
On the good news front, Junko just arrived back from Whistler, and Barnabas came home from work!
Junko got me some very cool and comfy sandals too!
Since I still don't have a job, I will keep applying to places, but in the mean time Barnabas has offered me a job: repaint the deck railings. I am going to do that but I am not going to accept payment. I don't want to cost them any more money, and I would like to do it just for the experience. Hazaa!