Fast Food

Hey!

Today I want to talk about fast food in Canada. As we have Mc Donalds in Japan, it is also in Canada, but did you notice that something is different in the M sign in my pictures?

Yes, there is a Canadian national flag in the M sign. This is really interesting because Japanese McDonalds doesn't have any original mark in the sign. Maybe Canadian people wanted to make it different from the American one, I guess.

There is another popular fast food shop here. The name of it is Tim Hortons.
In their menu, they have sandwiches, dounuts, some drinks. The interesting thing about them is that they hire many people who are of different nationalities.

Fraser Valley university

Hello!

How are you? Is it still hot in Japan? Here it is getting cooler or colder, I guess. I've been looking for a job but it has been tough actually, so I'm in trouble now ;( I have handed in my resume to some places but I haven't heard from them yet. I keep searching hard for it though.

By the way, my boyfriend's university has started. I went there with him. There were so many new students and it was interesting because some students looked nervous. I heard going to university in Canada costs a lot as it does in Japan, although most European countries, such as Denmark, Sweden, and Germany, give some money to university students. My boyfriend is taking Japanese classes. He seems to have fun with his Japanese classes. I help him with his homework. That is fun too.

Skytrain

Hey guys!
How are you? I'm good.

Yesterday we went to Surrey, a city closer to Vancouver than where I am living, because I had some errands there. I think I'm going to tell you about it next time.
I got in the Sky Train for the first time. The Sky Train connects Vancouver and the suburb areas. Unfortunately the train doesn't come to our city. I mean, we have no trains in our area. So, to catch the train, we had to go to the next city over from ours. It took one hour by bus and changed to the train. It was quite a long journey though. We also went to a huge shopping center, which is called "Metrotown". I was surprised that I saw so many Asian people there so I felt "Oh this is Canada!!!". I enjoyed the day so much.

Canadian Supermarket

Hello,guys!
I'm talking about supermarkets in Canada today.

First I felt staff in supermarkets are usually so friendly. They greet you like "Hi, how are you today?" and "Have a nice day!". Customers also say "I'm good, thanks. And you?" We, Japanese people, usually don't say anything for staff at shops.

We went to a supermarket today. Western people usually go shopping for food or daily stuff once a week. So, as you can see, the cart was huge. I was surprised at how much selection for bread there was. In some supermarkets, there are Asian sections so I can buy soy sauce and some Japanese food there. It's more expensive than in Japan though.

Today we got many things on sale. If you have the advertisement with you, you can get one more item for free. My boyfriend's family use that deal often.

Trip to Kelowna

Hey guys!

As you know, my boyfriend and I visited his sister's place last weekend. His sister and her husband live in a big house. There were four bathrooms in the house. When we visited them, there were also her husband's parents and my boyfriend's mother there. It means the house was huge enough for those people to stay in! I was surprised that it is common to have a big house in Canada, even if they are still young. Because in Japan people can't have such a big house easily. My boyfriend told me that Canada has space to build big houses.

We went to a lake to swim. The lake was so beautiful! I had never been to such a lovely beach until I visited there.

I sometimes felt it was hard to join the conversation between local Canadian people because of my English ability. To understand them, I must know the background, reference, and culture. I strongly felt I need to learn English and Canadian culture more.

Holiday

Hey guys!
How's it going?

I am good. We are going to my boyfriend's sisters place this weekend. His mother is already there, so we are actually going to pick her up to bring her back home. His sister's place is in Kelowna, which is 4 hours from here by car. I heard it is a small city.
This will be my first trip in Canada! We packed swim suits with us and bought some food for the long drive. I won't be driving though.

We have to get up earlier tomorrow, but I can't wait!!

Picnic

Hey guys!

Is it getting hotter in Japan? I don't think Canada is as hot as Japan. It's still summer though.

As for me, we went to a park the other day. We brought our lunchbox which was ''Onigiri' and some food.

The park is actually for people who ride horses. So we met some there. Canadian people are so friendly because the kids riding horses I met talked to us like ''Welcome to horse land!". It was so cute! I couldn't take pictures of the horses because we couldn't frighten them.

We got lost but I also saw squirrels in the forest. I was happy to see them there.

Hey!

This morning, I had blueberry pancakes! I had never had pancakes with blueberries before. Can you imagine pancakes with a lot of blueberries? Probably in Japan, it is difficult to have them often because blueberries are expensive and not so common. In Canada, there are so many kinds of berries, so we can get them easily and cheaply.

Anyway, we ate three pieces of pancakes each, of course with Canadian maple syrup.
By the way, I liked the heart shaped one!

Enjoying Games

Hello, guys!

Since I came here, we have played many games. I have a game I'm addicted to now. It is called "SCRABBLE". As you can see in the pictures, we use a board and alphabet tiles in the game. The rules are easy. We just make words!! It is hard to make words by using Q, X and Z. So those words have high point values. I always think about the words which include those letters and when I find them, I take memos. The person who gets the most points is the winner.

Winning was very difficult, but yesterday I finally won! I was so excited then. I decided to keep the score sheet from that game, to remind me of my first win!

The game is fun so I want you to try it once!!

Canadian Packages

Hello, guys!
How are you doing? I'm good.

Today I'm going to show Canadian packages because they are interesting for me. As you can see by the pictures, Canadian packages are written in two languages. Of course, one is English but can you guess which language the other one is?

Yes!! It's French!!

Did you know French is spoken in eastern Canada? Actually, my boyfriend's mother is from the province of Quebec which is in the east part of Canada, so she speaks French as well. A long time ago, French people came to Canada and settled in the area, along with the British and other European people.

I have never been to a French spoken area but I heard if we go there, nobody wants to talk in English. So I want to travel there while I'm in Canada!

Taking a Walk in the Town

Hello, guys!

It was a beautiful sunny day today. So we walked around outside. There are some parks around here. There is one that is a small park for kids. Another one has some facilities for beach volleyball and basketball, and as you can see, rock climbing space! We walked for about two hours. In the middle of our walk, we stopped for ice cream! It was yummy!! My boyfriend and I liked it.

His sister came to visit for a couple of days. She is living in another city with her husband. So his family and I went to have dinner at a restaurant. After that, we also went to a bookstore. We bought some stationary there. I enjoyed the day today!

Bowling Day!

Hey guys!!
How are the exams going?
As for me, I haven't done much so far, but I am feeling like I have been here for a long time!
I think it is good for me. I cook Japanese food often and they are happy to eat it!
The area I'm living in now is countryside. So, we usually need a car to go out. I haven't been to Vancouver yet. Maybe we are going there soon, I hope.

The other day, we went bowling with his friend. I was surprised that the ball was different from a Japanese one. As you can see, the ball is smaller and there are only five pins. That was interesting for me. I miss Japanese bowling though.

Picking rasberries

Hello, guys!
Yesterday we went to a berry farm near our house. There were some kinds of berries we could pick, but we chose rasberries because they were easier to pick!
It was my first time to pick berries and it was fun. It was sunday, so there were many people at the farm. I saw many Asian people there. I felt it was different from Denmark, since there were less Asian people in Denmark.
The rasberries were so soft and tasty! While I was picking them I also ate many! It was so nice! I think I can now tell which rasberries are the most delicious! We enjoyed picking rasberries and tried some berry food such as a smoothie and pie. They were also nice though.
We also had ice cream after dinner tonight. It was yummy!!!