Sun, Feb 11th

I've been in Vancouver almost two weeks now and still loving the City. Haven't really gotten to do too much as I've been busy with the job hunting and looking for accommodation. Turns out I didn't have to look too hard for work. I had applied for a lot of recruitment agencies online and about 20 games companies. I also got the name of a recruitment agency that welcomed walk-ins so I popped in there on Wed morn. They were all very nice and helpful and I was in there for about 90 min doing some computer tests which all went pretty well. Once finished the girl helping me said there was one job that might suit me but would have to check with them first.

I got a call the following day to say that company wanted to have an interview with me so in I popped and met with two lads who gave me lots of computer questions. A lot of stuff I wouldn't really be familiar with but I was just completely honest and it all went fine. The interviews over here are a bit of a pain as you always get awkward questions like, “when, in a previous job, did you go over the call of duty to help someone out”, or “what area would you most like to improve on?”. These questions are hard to answer correctly so you don't make yourself sound bad. Anywho, all went fine so I was pretty hopeful.

When I went back to the hostel to check my mails I had gotten a mail from a guy from a games company who wanted to meet for a “chat” the following morn. We met in a cafe and had a good ol' chat. He was a real nice guy and it was a nice informal chat. Everything went really well but i'm pretty sure i'm under qualified as it's a pretty serious position that they'll be hiring for. Right in the middle of the chat I got a call from the recruitment agency to say I got the other job and would start on Monday. That was good to hear. I won't hear about the games job till the end of the month but pretty sure I won't be getting that.

Over the weekend I went to view two houses. One was really nice but was quite a bit out of town and i'd say the room mates were super nerds. The other place was a bit of a dump and the guy showing it to me was straight outta The Deer Hunter so needless to say I was itching to get outta there before he caged me up, or something.

The lads also got back from Whistler for the weekend and it was their last days in Vancouver before they headed off on their tour of the U.S. For 2 months. Fortunately they both love Vancouver as well so have decided to come back here to work instead of going home. Ideally i'd like to try save some cash while they're gone but that' prob not gonna happen. We went out and partied hard for their last weekend and had some great craic as per usual. We also went to a great park in the city called Stanley Park. It's massive so we only got to see about 1/5 of it before the legs stopped working and we had to get Clint to pick us up. It's gonna be a great spot during the summer and might make me purchase a cheap bike for myself. Everyone keeps going on about how great it is here in the summer. Can't wait.

The extremely impressive library downtown......
....equally impressive inside, almost enough to make me pick up a book.....almost.
Great fun and games while watching the SuperBowl in our local Irish pub.
Heading into Stanley Park on a lovely Saturday afternoon
The view of Downtown from the park
Some old Chinese dude insisted on taking a pic of me in front of the Totem poles. Crazy bastard.
The Lions Gate bridge which brings you to North Vancouver.
North Vancouver
Clint and his buddy join us for our last night out with the lads
Bye bye Jamie and Glen.....................for now
Glen just has enough time to wake everyone in the hostel by crashing to the ground seconds after I took this picture. I had to carry him outta there quickly as he couldn't even walk. Funny as fook.

Vancouver

And so part 2 of my adventure begins. On Wed Jan 31st myself, Glen and Jamie flew from Toronto to Vancouver. Getting to the airport was a bit of a struggle as i've bought quite a few things since getting to Canada so carrying it all by myself was.... fun. No major problems though so we flew to Vancouver in approx 4.5 hours. There's a three hour time difference between Toronto and Van, which means i'm now 8 hours behind all ye folk back in the emerald isle.

So, my first impressions of Vancouver: I absolutely love it. In fact, i've decided to stay here instead of heading to Whistler. I've been talking with a lot of people who've been to Whistler and they say accommodation is near impossible to get. I didn't expect to love it so much here so it has made may decision far easier. It's a completely different city to Toronto. Toronto feels like an American city whereas Van is far more European. It's still a really big city but not half as big as Toronto. It has far fewer sky scrapers and the city is more spread out. But more importantly it's far cleaner and the people are super nice and cool here. It's nowhere near as multi-cultural here, but there are a load of Irish, Asians and Australians.

The thing that really made me fall in love with Van is the amount of things you can do here. There's just so much to do, both in Winter and Summer. There are three ski/snow-boarding slopes right outside the city to keep me occupied for the next few months. Then in the summer there's loads of hiking, mountain biking, canoing, sky diving, pretty much anything you could want. The only problem is being able to afford it all. May need to rob a few banks.

I've been here for almost 1 week now and unfortunately have been partying far more then I should be. I'm gonna blame that one on Glen. He's a major bad influence on me. Funnily he says the exact same about me. We're staying in another hostel with a bar in it, which i'm starting to think is a bad idea. We're right downtown surrounded by a lot of pubs/clubs. We've had quite a few great nights out already. On Fri night we met up with a Canadian friend of Jamie's (Clint). He picked us up in his massive pickup. There were 7 of us piled into it with plenty of room for more. It was a hilarious night as they were a bunch of dumbass American jocks. The whole night was like something out of an American Pie movie. Classic night.

Another brilliant day/night was super bowl Sunday. It's a pretty big deal in Canada too and all of the bar's had special promotions on. Myself and Glen headed to our local Irish bar (Doolins) at around 2pm to have a couple of warm up drinks before the 3 o'clock kick off. There was great craic throughout the day with lots of drinks promotions and games going on all day. The Indianapolis Colts ended up beating the Chicago Bears and myself and Glen celebrated their victory by going on a pub crawl. We did a nice mix of Irish and Canadian bars. Pretty much everyone we met on our travels were smashed.

In between all the partying i've been busy looking for work. I've applied to quite a few games companies and been contacting recruitment agencies too for any old crappy office work. There's an unbelievable amount of construction in the city at the moment too, in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Whistler, so if all else fails, I may even look into getting a job in construction. For now, i'm just looking for work and will look for accommodation after I get a job sorted. I've been down in the SWAP office a lot and they've been really helpful down there. Funnily enough, Kat, the girl working in the Toronto office just happened to come over here the same time as us so it was good to see her here too. She was telling us how it has hit -30 degrees in Toronto since we left. To say we've been lucky with the weather since getting here would be a major understatement. It's actually pretty warm in Van at the moment too.

So the plan for the next few days is to find a job asap. The two lads are off to Whistler for two nights on Wed and will be back for the weekend but then on Mon they'll be heading off on a two month trip around the U.S. so looks like i'll have to find some new drinking buddies. Well as soon as I have some news i'll update all of ye good folks.

Bye bye Toronto, carrying my three bags to the airport was quite the struggle.

The last and best friend I made before leaving Toronto

And we're off

We got some amazing views of the Rockies mid-flight

Back to good ol hostel living

It's pretty nice though

Tues, Jan 30th

Just thought i'd do a quick post for my last day in Toronto. Jan 31st I fly to Vancouver for the next part of my adventure. I had a great time in Toronto but I'm definitely ready to move on now and see some more of Canada, or even more importantly it's time for some skiing. The plan is to stay in Vancouver just for a few nights and then head north to Whistler. It's Super Bowl weekend this weekend so I wouldn't mind to stay in Vancouver for a bit of craic but I really just wanna try to get a job in Whistler asap, so will have to wait and see.

For our last few days we've been saying goodbye to Toronto in style, been on quite a few pub crawls and saying goodbye to a lot of the friends i've made. Also, been stocking up on ski gear so trying to pack everything back into my bag has been a nightmare. It's gonna be a major struggle getting to the airport with all my bags. I'm going with the two lads I live with so hopefully they'll be able to drag me along with them. So that's it for Toronto. I'll do a post in a few days with all the latest news.

My last day working in the call centre. Woo Hoo

The cheap Rainbow cinema I used frequent quite a lot.

Some random pictures of snowy Toronto

Last night on the booze in T.O. with Glen, Jamie, Paul, John and Stevie

Wed, Jan 17th

As you may have guessed, due to the lack of updates, I haven't been up to much for the last few weeks. I've no cash at the mo so am staying in most days. I'm also back at work in the good ol call centre. Yup, same one I was working in when I got here first. After one day working there I was ready to quit. It really is a struggle to force myself in there everyday. And the hours some days are really awkward so it'll take up my whole day and I don't make it home till after midnight on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. But i've gotta stick it out for two more weeks before I head off west. Did I mention I CAN'T WAIT to head over now.

I've absolutely no plans for the next two weeks either. I do hope to go up the CN Tower some day alright before I leave but I'll have to wait till I finish work and I also need it to be a clear day or else it's just a waste. I also intend to buy a lot of ski gear in Toronto as its way cheaper then it will be over west. Whistler has been voted the best ski resort in the whole of North America for the last six years so obviously it's extremely popular and attracts a lot of rich folk so they can afford to charge crazy prices for everything. That's why I gotta get a job that will sort out accommodation and a ski pass for myself. Don't worry, i'm sprucing up the resume as I speak. Throwing in a few new referee's too, Barrett for one.

It has finally started to snow properly here, which is great. It really is still a novelty at the moment so am really enjoying it. It snowed pretty heavily just for one night and it's lasted almost 3 days now. So different to back home when its gone after a couple of hours. Hope to make my first snowman shortly. Will try get some nice pics too if I get the chance. They have the main streets cleared of snow first thing in the morning so I need to get to a park or some place.

So yeah, don't expect much gossip outta me for the next two weeks as I struggle to get through work. But once I head west, I should a few stories to tell.

Another lovely evening at the rink

This is the stadium I went to see the baseball a few months back

Here's my house, looking all wintery

And the street we live on, St Andrews st.

Tues, Jan 2nd

Continuing on from my last post, the Wednesday after Xmas was actually a quiet day for me, after the last few days of partying. Just went to the cinema and went skating. Back to Thursday which was another party night, but we stayed in most of the night to keep the spending down. To be honest, I can't remember what I did for half these days as over the last 2 weeks all the days have just run into each other. Oh well.

Friday, was another big night for us. We had bought tickets a few weeks back for the basketball. The Chicago Bulls were playing the Toronto Raptures. It was another great game, really enjoying the basketball. The atmosphere at the games is great. Unfortunately the Rapture's lost again. I think I may be bad luck for them. If I lived over here i'd definitely follow the basketball and its so cheap to get the tickets too if you get them in advance. After that we went back to the hostel for a few drinks and games of pool with a gang from Brazil. Then we moved onto our favourite club, The Underground. I met a nice Dublin girl in there who's been living here for a few years and is a professional golfer, scratch handicap and everything. I told her I could be her caddie due to my vast experience.

Saturday was Angela's last night in Toronto before she flied off to Banff (another ski resort), so we went out for some drinkin and dancin and then had a full blown party in our place to celebrate. Craziest night ever that i'll just leave to your imaginations. Then multiply it by ten.
I'm glad we had such a good night that night as New Years Eve was a big let down. Mainly because it was lashing rain outside which was unfortunate as it really hasn't rained much since we got here. After some drinks at home we went to City Hall where there was a fire works show on at midnight. The place was jammed but everyone had umbrella's so we couldn't see anything. We just found a dry spot way back, waited for midnight and once the fireworks were done we headed on.

We tried an Irish bar that was close by but headed after one drink as the place was dead. Then we decided to just go back to the hostel as it was close and we knew we'd know a lot of people. We had good craic for most of the night with the usual gang and then right at the end of the night I was chatting to one of the girls working there when the barmen came over and dragged myself, Glen and Jamie out and told us we were barred. It was crazy as none of us were too drunk and had done nothing. I always thought that barman was a dick anyway so he really proved himself that night. Outside he was trying to get stuck in me and was saying i'm always in there walking around with a big smile on my face. Couldn't help but laugh when he said that. Wanker. I've no intention of going back there now giving them anymore of my money. I have everyone's numbers in there that I hang around with anyway, so we'll still meet up.

And that about sums up my crazy Christmas. Must say I really enjoyed myself over all and it was good to experience Christmas out of Ireland. I had been mentioning to most of ye that it's still not cold over here. Well it turns out it was the warmest December ever in Toronto. I sure picked a good year to come. It will be a big shock when I head to Whistler though. Finally just at the end of the year I saw my favourite movie of the year. Children of Men. Loved it to pieces. It was actually out in the cinema's back home the weekend I left home, but it just came out over here last week. I've been dying to see it and it surpassed my expectations. Classic.

The gang party at home

The Bulls come to town

Brazilians should stick to the soccer

Ahhh, Glen........ your pants?

More craziness back in the house

Glen and Jack hit the bed together

Very wet New Years celebrations at City Hall

Partying with the ladies on New Years..... just before getting barred.

Bye Bye Angela and her moose hat.

Tues, Dec 26th

Ok, trying to sum up what I got up to over the last 10 days is gonna be a tough one. Hands down the craziest week and a bit of my life. Really should have done a blog posting for each day as so much happened. It was mental oriental. I took about 100 photo's too so will have to try pick a few to sum it all up.

First up was Christmas eve, which I wasn't expecting much from as it's one of the better nights back home, with all my friends, so I didn't think that it could compare over here. We planned to just go out to the small Irish bar that Angela works in for a few drinks and see what happens. It was complete madness as soon as we got there. There were plenty of Irish lads in there all day. There was this one crazy bastard from west Cork who was without doubt the craziest lunatic i've ever met. He kept everyone entertained for the night with his ramblings. We ended up having a lock in the pub till around midnight. Angela even brought me behind the bar to teach me how to pull pints, so I was the barman for quite a while. Funny. Around midnight then we all headed back to a house of a couple of Tipperary lads for a party. Again, absolute madness here. Singing, dancing and lots of drinking. No idea what time we left here it's a Christmas eve i'm not going to forget anytime soon.

You can probably guess that we weren't in the best of conditions on Christmas morning. Not eve sure what time we got up. Think it was around 9, so we were all pretty fuzzy headed. We all had lots of calls to make home so hence the early rising. We did our secret santa first though. Lots of funny presents all round. I got a slinky and instructions for lots of drinking games from Glen (like I need more of a reason to drink more). It was definitely good to have something to open on xmas morning. The others had some gifts from home too, mostly clothes. We all headed to the hostel then to make our calls home. I was on the phone for hours. I had to catch everyone early before they headed out for the day. When we got back from making our calls Angela cooked a big ol Irish breakfast for us, which was just what we all needed. (Note: it's impossible to top a proper Irish breakfast, everything over here tastes different, especially bacon which just plain sucks). We probably all ate too much as we had our xmas dinner booked in a hotel for 6 but none of us were really hungry by then. Turns out it all worked out fine though as the dinner was extremely poor. The servings were shockingly small. When the bill came we still tipped quite well seeing as it was Christmas but I did write on the reset that it was the worst xmas dinner EVER.

After dinner we had an invite to go to a house party for another Irish guy, (Stevie) who actually lives quite close to Glen back home in Tyrone, and who were we to refuse an invite to a party. We had bought our drink well in advance so we picked it up from our house on the way to Stevie's. All the public transport was still running on xmas day so we had no problem getting around. In fact, seeing as we live in Chinatown you wouldn't have guessed it was xmas day at all as all the shops were still open. Was definitely strange. We got to Stevie's around 7ish and the party was well on the way already with a good mix of people from all over. Needless to say we partied till all hours and all crawled home at some ungodly hour.

The day after xmas is called boxing day over here as well and they go mad for their sales. I wanted to try and get a cheap webcam for myself so went round some of the shops. Picked one up for $9 which is crazy cheap, so I was happy with that. We weren't sure what to expect from that night as we weren't sure if it was like home and everyone goes out. Turns out it was nothing like home. Most places were closed. We started drinking at home first to keep the costs down and then headed to lovely sounding pub called Philty McNasties. There was a gang of Irish there again so we had another great night.

Ok this is getting out of hand, i'm gonna stop here and will fill ye in on the rest shortly.

Barman Brian

My first Guinness, not half bad, eh?

Lock-in at the pub and the party's started on xmas eve

The party continues back in the lad's house

Its sing along time

Xmas mornin and it's pressie time

My fab presents

Lookin all civilised at our xmas dinner

Not so civilised later on

Yet more sing alongs

"Boxing Day" provides yet more carnage