Magaly LamVoHee

Another way to view my photos..

Wednesday, 25. November 2009, 23:10:37

1. Click on the 'Photos' icon
2. Select the album you would like to view.
3. Then as it opens, there is a slideshow option on the right hand side, click on this to view the photos in a slideshow format rather than clicking on each individual photo.

Hope this helps.

This post was for those who have commented that the photos take too long to load when clicking on them individually, the slideshow is not much faster but at least it will save you clicking every time.

Enjoy..

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Vancouver Lately 09..

Tuesday, 24. November 2009, 23:27:09

Well the summer seems a very distant memory now, we have landed in Autumn which I can tell you has been less than pleasant. The rainfall has not stopped for weeks now, the temperatures keep dropping and the snow falls in Whistler have been thick and heavy. Whistler has already recorded 418cm of snow fall and we are not even in the winter season yet. With the excitement of the snow fall in Whistler, the excitement of the winter games seems to be growing legs as well, albeit small legs. With the arrival of the torch flame to Vancouver Island on October 30th and now touring for 106 days across Canada before coming back on February 12th, 2010 for the opening ceremony of the games, Canadians are beginning to see the reality of the games coming to this city and this country. The torch relay flame arrival ceremony in Victoria, the capital of Vancouver Island was a wonderful event and the locals came out in support. A group of first nations elders brought the flame across the water by boat and eventually the first torch was lit by the flame to begin it's journey. Vancouver Island is a relatively small island only a short distance ferry ride from Vancouver, but it is renowned for breeding some of the best Canadian Olympic Winter Athletes along with other stars such as Pamela Anderson, Steve Nash (NBA player), Nelly Furtado, Michael Buble, Sarah McLachlan to name a few. I learnt this while living here.

The lighting of the Olympic Flame in Greece, and the kick off of the torch relay is always a very special event, it symbolises the togetherness that the event brings and highlights the Olympic games as a gathering of all nations and cultures together competing in love and harmony. So it always emotes special feelings for me and brings it back as to why I do these kinds of events and why they mean so much to me. I have some friends who are lucky enough to be working and travelling with the torch relay around Canada, but after hearing from them that they are experiencing temperatures in -40 below, where they say you can’t even feel your eye lids, I think perhaps lucky is not such a good word to use

but they are enjoying their adventure and it will prove one to remember I am sure.

Around the city of Vancouver, things seem to be coming together. The Athletes Village is complete and has been handed over to the organising committee to make the final touches for the athletes. The competition venues are also receiving final touches and we are starting to see some branding for the games on buildings and walls. The vibe is still a tad negative towards the games with the recession still in full force and locals complaining that too much money is being wasted on such an event. Canadians are more vocal and caring about human issues than sporting competition and so with the problems that this town is facing with homelessness and unemployment, they do not feel passionate about supporting this event when these problems are not getting the attention it deserves. Although these problems are valid and should be looked after, unfortunately we also can’t ignore the biggest international event happening in this city, so they must start to get behind these games and show that they are excited to welcome international visitors to Vancouver. As we have said, ‘the freight train is coming, either get on board or get out of the way, either way, it can not be ignored'. They must also begin to look at this event as bringing exposure and economy to this city which will hopefully open more funding for these other issues and interest happening here. Time for celebration is just as important as time for recognition. I think like all events though, once it comes around and the excitement starts to grow, the ill feeling will disappear. It is just taking a little longer to happen here than in other cities where the games have been held before and also the the global recession is not helping.

So with that, we look to 3 months to go, still a lot of preparation to do, lots of decisions to be made and lots of polishing of the glasses still to be done, but this is what gets me excited about working in this industry and what ultimately brings this unique group of sporting event project managers to the fore. We are now down to the doing instead of the talking, this is where we shine and our experience comes through in working with the locals to provide a memorable event for the international world but namely for the Athletes and Officials. To have an event of this magnitude in a city and to give the locals something to look forward to, especially during these times is a rare thing and only happens to a small group, so all the more reason to cherish it and embrace it.

I will aim to work in the athletes' village 'barring any unforseen circumstances' as this is my favourite place to be as you are able to mingle and socialise with Athletes, Officials, Media, Sponsors, VIPs’ from all walks of life and learn their stories of how they achieved their goals to get to an Olympic games along with experiencing the athlete's joy when they return to the village to celebrate their winning achievements in their competitions. The food at the village is also not too bad

You have endless McDonalds along with foods from all the different nations to try, so how can that not also be one of the highlights!

So until my next report, be sure to check out www.vancouver2010.com if you want to learn more about the games and Vancouver. Or you can just come for a visit and see for yourself. There is still time...

Check out more pics in my album..

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Alaska, 'Go Before it Melts Away'..

Tuesday, 24. November 2009, 22:12:36

The other day I was reading an article about the ‘hoax’ of global warming and how Al Gore and his ‘goons’ as they put it, are all fabricating this wonderful story to make the world believe that we are in trouble and thus push onto us their own political agenda. If we remember how Al Gore acted like a complete gentleman when conceding the US Election to George Bush when it clearly belonged to him, I believe he is a man of substance. I don’t know about you, but I watched Inconvenient Truth and I found it very fascinating and although at times a little too ‘doomsday like’ it was informative and alarming. I just can’t believe that the amount of gas, oil fumes, fossil fuels that we are emitting in the air along with cutting down of trees in the world won’t somehow have an effect on our planet in years to come, if not now.

And a good way to make you believe this is to take a trip to Alaska read about and see the environment and get an idea of how this great land mass has deteriorated over time. There is no denying when you see the images shown to you of how 10 years ago we were not able to get onto some of the glacial parts that we were able to now and that these massive icebergs are melting rapidly and thus allowing closer access to see them up close, which is fantastic for a tourist but alarming for scientists. The amount of natural wildlife as well has diminished from 10 or so years ago, we had an environmentalist onboard the cruise who was telling us about how when he first began to take trips to Alaska, he would get a sore neck from looking side to side, behind and in front of him at all the wildlife and creatures around him, but now this has changed, these creatures are becoming more and more rare. I don’t think we can shy away from this and say, ‘well that’s just life’, I think there are some truths out there and we should try and protect some of these natural beauties in our word.

I have to say that seeing parts of Alaska and experiencing nature in it’s truest form was by far one of the best adventures of my life. It couldn’t be any easier for you to visit Alaska from Vancouver, you get on a cruise ship at the Vancouver Port which is 15 mins from my place downtown and you cruise the waters for 7 days stopping at different ports along the way until you reach the capital of Juneau, Alaska. You then do a loop and sail back down again to Vancouver . Juneau is only about half way up to the northest point of Alaska. A different way to visit would be to take a flight from Vancouver, head further north to Anchorage and do the cruise for 7 days back down to Vancouver, ultimately it enables you to see more of Alaska but we wanted the ease of jumping on a cruise and not having to worry about jumping back off again for 7 days. I think what we ended up seeing gave us good overview of this great continent. We took in some excursions when we stopped at the different ports, such as Whale watching which was incredible! To hear the sounds the whales make before they blow water from their blow holes then next minute, pop right out of the water and dive back down again crashing their huge frames in the water was out of this world. We went on a wildlife tour where birds, bears, eagles, fishes, salmon were a plenty. We took in some of the local food like, King Crab legs, Salmon Jerky and Alaskan beer, unfortunately I didn’t get to try the moose hot dogs, I was disappointed. It might have been the only chance to try it, or maybe if Sarah Palin was at her house in Juneau, Alaska when we visited she might have let us in to have some.

I asked the locals about Sarah and if she is seen around town a lot, they mentioned that she doesn’t visit all that often, even though Juneau is the capital and the government house is there which is where you might assume she would be, being the Governor and all, but no!, this local guy told me- “she prefers to be up there in Anchorage, she doesn’t much like us down here, she actually is putting a plan together to change the capital of Alaska to Anchorage so she doesn’t have to come here no more, but we still like her and when she comes she runs around town in her nice shorts showing off her legs, she’s some sort I tell ya” those words were from a local. The next day we learnt that she was quitting her time as governor, which also explains why she wasn’t at the house and a big truck was parked in the entrance.

We also went to Ketchikan which is the fishing village and saw some of the boats that are depicted in the Deadliest Catch TV Series, I tried some of the best Halibut ever there as well. We also visited glaciers up close, so close we could almost go out and touch them. Seeing the icebergs, as well as being fortunate enough to witness some of the icecaps melting and hearing the sound it makes as it falls from the pack into the water below was another spectacular moment. I was also fascinated at how blue the sea was and how this blue reflected onto the icebergs floating away. The cruise ship itself was also nice, very big, lots of room and full of first time American travellers which was fun. We were also lucky to have celebrated some important dates while on the cruise, Canada Day, Independence Day for Americans and Alaska’s 50th Anniversary of becoming a state. The amount of food served everyday was constant and enormous, we had a 4 course meal at dinner every night and a midnight snack bar with all the sweet deserts you can shove down before bed. I was glad I didn’t put on weight when I got back, we listened intently when we were told that passengers easily put on 10 pounds (5kgs) from all the food they consume on the cruise. So knowing this we opted to take the stairs everywhere we went on the ship just so we could burn away all the hot dogs, nachos, ice cream, burgers, alcohol and many other treats.

I am glad I was able to see this part of the world which to be honest I would never think to go to if I lived in Australia, but after going there I really do think it is one of the best trips you can do with your family and learn about nature and see it’s wonders up close. The moniker for Alaska is ‘Go, before it melts away’ and I really do believe that although it will not be melting in the next 10 years, a good 50 years from now, our children will have a very different view of Alaska and whether it will be as a result of global warming or not, there is no denying that this area is changing, the ice is melting and so make your way there if you can.

Before I finish, here are some funny questions asked by passengers on cruise ships.. Gold!

1. What do you do with the ice carvings after they melt?
2. Where is the elevator to go to the front of the ship?
3. Do the crew sleep on the ship?
4. Is the toilet water fresh or salt?
5. How will I know which photographs are mine?. (after having their pictures taken by the staff)
6. Do the stairs go up or down?
7. When is the midnight buffet?
8. How far are we above sea level?

Check out more pics in my photo album..

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Vancruisin'..

Monday, 25. May 2009, 05:19:13

My boss has a boat and he decided to take advantage of the beautiful sunny weather Vancouver has had this past weekend and entertain some clients who were in town, I was in the lucky position of knowing these clients and so I got a day out on the boat. The gorgeous clear sunny day was perfect and gave new perspective of the Vancouver landscape and it's surroundings. The city does possess some great scenery along the water and the breathtaking Deep Cove area is nothing to sneeze at, simply stunning!.

All in all, although very windy and choppy water, it was a fabulous day out!.

Please check out more pics in my album..

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San Frantastic..

Monday, 25. May 2009, 04:21:59

I am still buzzing from my trip with a couple of girlfriends to San Francisco over long weekend 2 weeks ago. San Fran has everything that Vancouver does lack in some areas, the weather was hot and sunny, the architecture and buildings were innovative and imaginative, the rolling hills were impressive, the streets different and unique at every turn, the culture very diverse, the various modes of transportation, being from cable cars, trams, buses and trains, the food inexpensive, the taxi fares affordable, the people extremely friendly, the atmosphere always happy and joyful, the men confident, tanned, fit with gorgeous bodies to show off, the landscape vast and beautiful, the shopping cheap and cheerful and the lifestyle young and hip.

I had a wonderful time exploring all sides of San Fran, it’s amazing how travelling from one end of the city by the iconic cable car (which is fun), you experience a totally different scenery and culture. The streets are predominantly hilly which makes for hard work walking up them, especially on a sunny hot day, I wondered if the locals ever get used to the hills. My friends and I got to visit most of the attractions which we had on our list. The ‘crookedest street’ in the world was a sight to be seen, fisherman’s wharf was interesting but way too touristy, the golden gate bridge was impressive far away and up close, we went a on 26km bike ride on one of the days which took us from downtown San Fran, across the golden gate bridge to all the way on the other side of the island along the water then we rode through the country side then back towards the water and took a ferry back to the city, not an easy feet after starting in the morning and not getting back until midnight, my bum was in the shape of the bike seat after that ride!

One of the other highlights was the tour of Alcatraz, ‘The Rock’, we took a ferry ride from the city which took around 20 mins to the middle of the bay and onto the island. Having seen the show Prison Break, I was expecting Wentworth Miller the actor to greet us but not to be!

The prison and island tour was very thorough and incredibly informative, the audio tour of the prison cells is easily the highlight as the commentary was done by former inmates, prison guards, office workers, children and wives of the prisoners. It was truly enlightening and very poignant to hear the stories from the people themselves as we walked past the various cells. We learnt of the famous ‘escape from Alcatraz’ story and saw the dug out hole of the vent in one of the cells where one of the inmates made their escape, this was a cool moment, we also saw the dummy heads that the prisoners used to place in their beds to disguise them, there were pictures on the walls of the famous prisoners of Alcatraz, namely Al Capone, Robert ‘Birdman Man’ Stroud and many others. The prison itself was cold and baron and the wind that swept through from the bay was icy. I could imagine how terribly cold this place would be in winter, there was no escaping that wind, we felt it all around and we were there on a relatively mild day. As we walked around we could enter certain prison cells and experience what it would be like to be stuck in such a small space, I am claustrophobic so I chose not to stay in the cells too long, but I certainly got the sensation of being locked up. The prison has been closed since 1963.

After our tour, I got this overwhleming sensation of sadness and sorrow for those who had to endure that but then I remembered that these criminals are criminals. I must say it was a welcome relief to see the boat coming to get us after our 2hour tour and it reminded me how lucky we are to have our freedom. We spent the rest of that Monday shopping and then having dinner and drinks with friends that night.

Our very early morning flight came way too quickly and it was time to leave San Fran or ‘Frisco’ as the locals call it. I loved my 4 days there and it will certainly be a place where I will return, even though I feel like I visited most parts of the city, I am sure there are many many parts that I have yet to discover and look forward to doing so.

Please check out more pics in my album..

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The Island..

Monday, 25. May 2009, 02:28:51

For the Easter holidays, I decided that I wanted to go and check out the place Vancouverites call ‘The Island’. It’s official name is Vancouver Island just off the mainland of Vancouver. A sea plane gets you there in 20 mins, a ferry in 1.5 hours. I was lucky to have a friend who used to live on the island who decided to go on the trip with me and thus planned our adventure. It started off with a sea plane ride to Nanaimo which took a mere 18 mins, the plane ride was great, a different experience with being on a tiny tiny plane with only 6 seats, we were all crammed in with no room to spare. I was fascinated by the scenery around me, along with the tiny hole that was in the window next to me, I kept placing my finger in the hole to get the sensation of the outside air, I also thought luckily we are not going up any further as this could pose a serious problem, either cracked window or lost finger!.

We arrived in Nanaimo and got our car for the weekend and proceeded to drive towards the coast to Parksville where we stayed at a new beach side resort. The weather was not great unfortunately with heavy rains, but the resort was beautiful and our room over looked the ocean, if only the weather would improve we wondered. The next day it turned beautiful, so my friend ADD and I took a drive to all the various wonderful areas such as Catherine Grove, Port Alberni, Qualicum, Fanny Bay, Comox and many other places, all beautiful and different. The following day we drove down to Victoria city stopping at various look out points along the way and visiting the famous hand painted murals which were very impressive and powerful.

We finally arrived to the capital Victoria early evening after a long day on the road, that night we went out and experienced the nightlife of Victoria which was fun and enjoyable. Our last day in Victoria was not a pleasant one as there was a huge rain storm which lasted the entire day therefore cutting short our sightseeing around the city, but the part thats I did see of Victoria was great and looked like a great little town with certainly a lot more to do than I had thought. ADD took me to the many places where she used to live and frequent. But as a result of the heavy rains, we were not able to do too much more and so we decided to take the early ferry back to Vancouver. The ferry ride was calm and serene, with gorgeous views all around, we arrived in Vancouver 3 hours later and thus ended my experience on the Island, I had a great time and glad I got to see how the other half lives but was happy to be home.

Please check out my album for more pics..

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*M Town

Monday, 25. May 2009, 02:17:01

I really can’t believe that it has been over 3 months since I was in Melbourne. I still think about my time there and wish that it had not gone so quickly. I had a blast and felt so grateful to have had the chance to see my family and my good friends. I enjoyed long boozy lunches, lazy days at the beach, memorable nights out, along with devouring some of my favourite quintessential aussie foods such as dim sims, potato cakes, meat pie, good old fashioned home cooking and washing it all down with classic aussie wine and lemon lime and bitters. I also planned a high school reunion with some old friends whom I had not seen for a long long time, it was a great day and I loved hearing all the stories of what they had been up to since high school. I was happy to see that we all turned out ok from being at an all girls school. I also attended my very good friend Karine’s wedding which was the main purpose of my trip and I had the pleasure of being her maid of honour.

The weather was awesome for the whole 2.5 weeks that I was there. When I first arrived there was a heat wave with the temperatures in the 40’s for 4 days straight, this was highly unusual for Melbourne, I of course was loving it as it gave me a chance to spend some time at the beach and work on my tan which I took full advantage of. But unfortunately as a result of the heat wave and the serious lack of water in Melbourne and Australia which has been building up, along with a stupid maniac arsonist, who decided that today would be a good day to light some fires, Melbourne experienced the worst bush fires EVER in it’s history. This dark day took place on February 7th, 2009, it has now been called Black Saturday. There were severe warnings leading up to this day of potential bush fires, but no-one predicted the devastation and damage that it eventually would cause. This, was not only the worst day in Australia’s history but also the day that my friend Karine and her soon to be husband David would experience their most joyful.

The forecast had been for a hot hot 48 degrees, we were all worried about surviving the heat in our wedding dresses. The temperature heated up very quickly that day with it being in the 30’s by mid morning, we all braced ourselves for a scorcher. There were plenty of reports throughout the day that today would be hottest day on record. We all thought what a day to have a wedding, and boy was it a day!. The winds were the most forceful and severe we had ever seen, the sky was a grey ash colour, the air was thick and humid, the sun relentless and powerful. Yet we all pushed through, even with the bride almost having a breakdown being in a huge wedding dress, the guests having to wait in an air-con less church for almost 40 minutes for the wedding party as a result of the wedding car breaking down, Karine’s wedding veil almost flying off due to the high winds, the bridesmaid fresh flowers dying in the heat, our make-up constantly being re-applied, surviving the car ride which had leather seats and no air-conditioning and the rain randomly falling towards the end of the day. Although the day was quite challenging for the wedding party, along with the bride and groom themselves, we all felt comforted that we were going through this together and many people along the way helped us get through it, like the car drivers who provided water, ice and fruit in the car, the bar across the street from where we were going to be taking some photos allowing us to come in and cool off for a little while and the general niceness of people along the streets clapping at the wedding cars, most probably acknowledging our effort in the oppressing heat. It never crossed our minds that on the same day in rural parts of Melbourne, our fellow Australians were fighting for their homes and their lives and that by the end of that night, almost 200 people would lose their lives. In a way we were glad not to have known this news during the day but it made it a sad end to Karine’s big day when we all learnt of the tragedy that had taken place. It’s amazing how with so much happiness, there could be such sadness at the next corner. Needless to say February 7th, 2009 would be remembered by all and for various reasons.

Just a day after the wedding I had to leave Melbourne and was not around to see all the tragic stories that came out of the bush fires, but I was very touched and moved with what I saw afterwards with Aussies rallying together, helping, donating, supporting and comforting each other. There were also relief concerts, along with fire appeals with all money raised going to the victims, the image of a fire fighter finding a koala among the ashes and giving it a drink of water will be one of the best that I saw and left me with a big lump in my throat and gave me the feeling of being proud to be an Australian.

Please check out pics in my album...

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4-20 Anyone?

Tuesday, 21. April 2009, 02:36:14

So today April 20th, 2009 in Vancouver and I am sure in many parts of the world, people are celebrating 4-20. What does this mean I hear you ask?. Take the time to read the below explanation and then watch the you tube video. As I was walking home tonight, the streets were filled with young people who were out in force smoking their lungs out on Marijuana. What a wonderful sight to see on my way home as they basked in the spring sun, took over the streets and 'lit up a joint'. Vancouver is one of only a few cities in the world where smoking marijuana in public is not deemed an offence. Some of the rules and regulations here really baffle me!. Funny what people get passionate about and what they don't.

The first link is an explanation about what exactly 4-20 is, the second link is a article in the local news paper about 4-20 and finally the third is a video of the event taking place. I almost died of smoke inhalation, walking through this scene.

Caution, the video may be offensive to some viewers.

http://www.snopes.com/language/stories/420.asp

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Thousands+marijuana+smokers+gather+Vancouver+celebrate/1515882/story.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ImxPj4XVCU

Happy 4-20!.

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Van Observations..

Wednesday, 14. January 2009, 03:42:00

I couldn't leave without adding another one of my famous or 'infamous' list. Life is a little different here..

Winter MUSTS in Vancouver..

1. I must have a pair of GUMBOOTS. I must make sure that I buy the trendy fashion brand. I must look to spend $99 for them and buy the brand 'Hunter'. I must learn to wear them everywhere, even in the office and at restaurants and I must have them in different colours and or designs, along with some with the fur or wool inside and some without. I must also see if there are matching bags to go with the gumboots and I must wear them with pride!

2. I must have a pair of TRACKSUIT pants and I must buy the brand 'Roots' or 'Lulu Lemon'. I must make sure that I buy the tracksuit pants that say 'roots' on the bum and I must wear them around everywhere I go, accompanied by my gumboots. I must learn that walking into a restaurant with these items on is very ok and normal. I must learn to accept that sportwear worn as everyday clothing is acceptable and the norm. I must buy a Lulu Lemon sport jacket and wear it to on an evening out and don't think twice about it.

3. I must learn to appreciate Hockey and learn to love watching it 3 or 4 times a week. I must buy some kind of 'Canucks' memorabillia and support my local team. I must pay $80 to go and watch a regular hockey game and sit right at the back of the stadium or I can pay $200 and sit right near the glass.

3. I must practice eating a lot of 'HOT WINGS', which are chicken wings drowned in hot sauce. I must learn to eat them, drink beer and watch hockey every Sunday.

4. I must get good at either SNOWBOARDING or SKIING, otherwise I will have a very lonely Winter. I must get enthusiastic about putting on 5 layers of clothing, goggles, gloves, beanie and going up the mountain to then come back down again many times over. I must then learn to replenish myself with unlimited amounts of tacos drowned in cheese and again beer while on the mountain.

5. I must get used to walking around in the RAIN and constantly have a damp feeling in my clothes. Vancouver is a rain forest and so the rain is second nature. I must learn that when it rains, the temperature is warmer than when it doesn't rain. So I need to figure out which makes me more comfortable, rain with warm temperatures or no rain but bitterly cold and windy temperatures. I have not figured it out yet.

6. I must learn to carry an umbrella with me AT ALL TIMES, and I must learn to buy more than 1. I must have one in the office and at least another 2 at home and perhaps one at a friend's in case I forget one.

7. I must learn to be forceful when walking in the street with my umbrella. Do not try to make way for people to get passed you with their umbrella, force yourself through and keep on walking, it's every umbrella for themselves. It's also the same with trying to avoid the rain puddles on the street. Push through and plough on, don't be shy or you will inevitably end up in the puddle and get wet!.

8. I must learn to take the Canadian way of life in my stride and not let their slowness get to me. I must learn that Canadians are very passive people who are quite happy to live their life in a happy monotone. I must learn that Canadians are private people and do not like talking about themselves. I must learn that they will be friendly but restrained.

9. I must learn that the American/Canadian rivalry is VERY STRONG. Canadians take great offence in being likened to Americans, especially since George Bush came into power. Perhaps the gap will close a little with Obama getting into power and restoring the image of Americans a little.

10. I must get over the french twang accent of the Canadians. It's not their fault they were not taught the proper 'french patois'. I must learn to stop mimicking the accent and accept it for what it is. It is after all Quebecois and not Francais.

11. I must learn more about the Canadian history and it's people and find out who are other famous Canadians apart from Celine Dion and Bryan Adams.

12. I must learn to drink a 'caesar', which is like a Bloody Mary but with Clamato Juice (which is Clams and Tomato Juice). Somehow this one seems very hard to swallow.

13. I must learn to eat raw vegetables with salad dressing. Having a plate of raw broccoli, cauliflower, green peppers and mushrooms accompanied by hummus or ranch dressing is ok.

14. I must also learn that fruits in salads is ok. Apples, Strawberries, Pears, Oranges are good with lettuce, cucumbers, carrots and so on. Grapes with pasta is also good.

15. I must accept that paying an entry fee of $12 to get into Irish Pub is the norm.

3 comments

Local news and weather.. Snow and Rain In The Van...

Wednesday, 14. January 2009, 02:43:38

Well it has truly been a very long time since I last wrote and updated. Now that I am settled in Vancouver after a whirlwind and hectic year in ’08, I can look at my surroundings appreciate it for what it is and also give you some news, observations, and views.. I can say that I have grown an affection for the city. but it remains not a huge favourite.

2008 was a super busy year for me; I feel like now with this new month and New Year, I can finally sit down and relax properly. I have really been non-stop since I arrived 9 months ago, I can’t believe it has been that long, it has flown by! I feel like finally I can take in all of what’s around and start living in this city Vancouver. For a while there, I felt like a visitor and never quite settled in, granted work had a lot to do with that, with my summer pretty much taken up with travelling, but it also had a lot to do with putting time aside to enjoy rather than being in automatic mode. With me staying here over the Christmas and New Year holidays and having some time to myself (which has also been rare), I began to look up and around me as I walk through the city streets, rather than looking down and rushing to where I needed to get to.

Having travelled all over Canada this past year, I have really learnt to appreciate Vancouver and make the conclusion that it is a very pretty city, comparison to others I have seen in Canada. Montreal would rate as the closest feel to Melbourne in terms of being so cosmopolitan, fashion and food conscious and generally a good young vibe about it. The buildings are very European like, namely French style and so it certainly is up there in looks and feel. Halifax was also a pretty city by the water and very hilly, it reminded me of Hobart or Edinburgh. The seafood there was out of this world, I have not been able to top my 4 course seafood dinner that I had there, unbelievable! The lobsters were so juicy and meaty, the scallops big and fresh, along with the prawns and a pub on every corner to go into and wash down all that seafood. Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto were not spectacular, just run of the mill cities. Generally, again with the exception of Montreal and Toronto, the people in these cities move very slow, that’s in work, life and speech. It did get on my nerves but I learnt to go at their pace which relieved my impatience immensely. So getting back to my earlier statement, after travelling around, I realised that Vancouver does have the prettiest surroundings and that I am spoilt living in a city that has both mountain and ocean views all the way around. I am all the better for having visited the other cities and can now count Canada as ‘done’!

Work as usual is busy and never boring and that’s just how I like it. The Breast Cancer Season finished at end of September with it beginning again in June right through until October. This year there is an introduction of 5 new events which are the bike rides. With the success of the inaugural 250km bike ride from Toronto-Niagra Falls last year, the foundation has decided to try and do more bike ride events in more cities and also travel to Phoenix and Kentucky in the United States. The rides will be from Vancouver-Seattle, Calgary-Rockies, Montreal-Quebec City, Toronto-Niagra Falls and the ones in the US. These new rides along with the normal events of the 60km walks in every city in Canada gives it a very full schedule for this year, so a lot of work to be done to get there. At present though, I am doing a side project working with a local event production group on assisting the organising Committee of the Winter Olympics, along with assisiting the Australian company in charge of the Opening and Closing ceremonies with their event operations and requirement needs for the games. This project came about as a result of me knowing the right people already working for the Organising Committee here, along with knowing the Australian Company doing the ceremonies for the Winter Olympics. The local event production company do not have a lot of Olympic Games experience, although they are a big company here in Vancouver. There is a huge program coming up very soon on February 12th 2009 which will mark the ‘One Year to go’ until the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. I am helping with this project also and can’t wait to see how it unfolds.

With as much as it is an Olympic city, it remains quiet and especially now with winter in full effect, the locals tend to retreat to the mountains on the weekend, but I am hoping with the Games only 1 year away and with the upcoming celebrations, the city will come to life a little and start counting down. Having said that, with the economic recession, the mood is a little damp and people’s pockets are a little dry so the enthusiasm might take a little while to happen.

Socially things are busy, ever moving and changing as well, there are a consistent growing number of my ‘games industry’ friends coming to Vancouver and so the social activities and gatherings are never ending. At last count there were 30 of us, living in very close proximity of each other in the city with the number very likely to grow as we approach 2010. It does make for a non boring social life with such a large group, although at times it does become too familiar but between all of us we do have a few local friends who are work colleagues that we have added to our ‘aussie’ mix. I must say though if not for work, it can be difficult here to make friends, the locals aren’t really known to socialise much in the city bars and pubs as a general rule.

I had my dream come true over Christmas as the weather decided to turn white and make Christmas Day a winter wonderland, and for once, I was very excited when I saw the weather forecast. I really enjoyed a wonderful Christmas day with full Canadian style lunch/dinner to enjoy. A huge size turkey with hazelnut, apple and bacon stuffing with other wonderful treats and pleasures, ‘twas the day for indulgence. The lunch turned into dinner with a snow ball fight in the park and a hob tub and dip in the icy pool on my friend’s rooftop of her apartment. It was a memorable day.

The weather has been very unusual as I keep being told by the locals. Vancouver is not known to get snow in the downtown area, and if on the rare occasion that it does snow, it only lasts a couple, if not one day. So for the snow to arrive mid December and basically not let up until a few days into the new year was unprecedented, extremely disruptive and somewhat chaotic to the city. With such heavy snow, the city was just not prepared for it and this caused major disruptions to public transport, along with the airport and flights. It was absolute mayhem , so many flights delayed and cancelled and right before the Christmas holidays. A lot of people didn’t make it home in time for Christmas, we watched footage from the airport everyday of people and bags stranded unattended while people complained at the lack of service. Air Canada was the most to blame as it was the only airline not flying during the snow, other airlines seem to be able to do so and it was reported that Air Canada didn’t have the man power to keep their planes flying, needless to say Air Canada has lost all credibility and not great timing given it is the official airline for the Winter Games. The snow also cause disruptions in garbage pick up, a lot of streets just didn’t get the snow cleared away, the city was only clearing the main streets to allow normal traffic flow. So with that a lot of trucks were not able to operate on the streets and make garbage pick up, this was a huge problem. I was told that there was only 2 snow ploughs in the whole city, it just shows you how rare the snow is for city.

The snow was beautiful and serene for the first couple of days and I really enjoyed seeing the city all covered in white, but to be honest walking around the streets and having to really concentrate and looking down at your feet all the time to avoid the slippery snow did start to get annoying and also when the snow started to melt a little, the slush and mush was no better. It proved to me why locals say the snow belongs on the mountains, it’s true, snow on city streets is not that welcoming. And now with the rain coming back and the weather warming up dramatically, (average temps of 8 degrees, instead of -8 degrees), the city is trying to get back to normalcy but is facing another challenge of flooding with the heavy rain and snow melting. But I’m sure it’ll all come good again soon.

I, however am counting down the day until I am back in Melbourne for a wedding. I arrive in Melbourne on January 24th for 2.5 weeks. I can not WAIT as the sun of Oz has been calling me and I’m so looking forward to seeing my family and friends. It can’t come soon enough!. I’ll be sure to have a report after I’m back from my trip, which I can only imagine will be fabulous and fun filled.

As usual I have attached some photos in my album, so please feel free to check those out.