I just finished resizing all our pics from Seattle and have decided to split them into two parts: food… and everything else! I’ll go against my usual priorities and write about the ‘everything else’ first. :)

Here we are on the train. Perhaps you can tell I was still angry that the custom people took our sandwiches that we had packed.

The way there took about 4 hours, including the border crossing that we didn’t even have to get out of our seats. The wifi worked on and off, so I didn’t manage to get my WHMIS training done as planned, but I did get a bit of reading done.

We were able to check in right away at our hotel, which was good. We stayed at the Grand Hyatt. It was lovely. That was our view and it had electric blackout curtains and a huuuuuuuuuuuuuuge bathroom.

After a quick rest in glorious air conditioning (it was HOT the whole weekend) I dragged Scott to Paseo, a sandwich shop that had been recommended to me. We had to take a bus pretty far to get there, and then walk up a hill, but it was really good. I’ll write about that more in my food entry!

On the way back we swung by the intriguing ‘troll’ marked on the map under a bridge. It looked like this but I didn’t take a picture because some losers have graffiti’d all over it, and also there were other people there.

We bused back into the city to the Seattle Center area where you can find the Space Needle (too expensive), the monorail (too pointless), and the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum. After a bit of debate (I was hesitant because I wasn’t sure I would like it) I agreed to go and anyway it was fun.

They had all sorts of rock and roll history stuff. I didn’t really know what a lot of it was, but Scott seemed to enjoy it. There was an exhibit on Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix, and this art piece made of guitars.

Then upstairs they had this really cool exhibit where you get to learn and try some instruments and do little challenges or just JAM. You can even record your session and make a CD.

There is Scott mega-concentrating on the drums.

And me trying out being a DJ. Cool!!

They also had an exhibit on Battlestar Gallactica which I walked through pretty quickly since I have never watched that show, and an exhibit about Avatar that was pretty interesting. They showed how they filmed with real people and translated it to animation and other neat stuff. I could move those seed things with my hand.

After that we went back to the hotel for showers (I was sweatyyyyy) and then we went out in search of dinner. We ended up hiking up a hill and having some drinks at a very dark bar (pretty much the opposite of that yellow chair picture). Very atmospheric. And super cheap!! After getting DRONK we tottered off to a fancy Mexican restaurant that I will write more about in my food entry. After a long dinner we went back to the hotel and relaxed and then had a lovely sleep on the super comfy giant bed.

Next morning we hiked up another hill (a Seattle trend) and had a Glorious breakfast at Glo’s. Breakfast that dreams are made of. So delicious and so huge. Details to come.

Then we did a lazy touristy stroll. Downtown, Pike Street Market, out by the water etc etc. It was OK except for the heat and the weird guy with his pants around his ankles possibly pooping into his armchair that he had brought down to near the market???

After that Scott and I went our seperate ways for a bit. Scott went to watch a baseball game (and got some great pictures, but that’s for Scott’s blog, not mine) and I went on another bus adventure to Target for a pair of cheap boots. They didn’t have the ones I wanted but I got another pair, and a plaid shirt. Then I came back to the city in a desperate search for air conditioning. I went to the fancy mall and looked in J. Crew and other stores but didn’t buy anything because it was $$$$$$.

At 5 I met back up with Scott and we trudged to Chinatown in search of a light dinner (still full from breakfast!!). We were pretty tired at this point, from so much walking and heat. We had Chinese for dinner, and then headed to the train station for our trip back! The way back took more than 5 hours, ugh. The train kept stopping to let other trains pass? And we were in a car with some really obnoxious loud OLD people. Anyway we arrived home to find that the hot water hadn’t been working all weekend so our showers had to be cold. BRRRR.

I was a bit tired at school on Monday, but happy because we had such an awesome mini vacation. Scott and I had so much fun together and it was just amazing to live a little differently than our usual routines for a bit. Back to being cheap and eating salads now though, haha.

I survived my first day of school. After nearly 4.5 years off, I realized last night. Wow.

Today was orientation. We listened to a welcome speech and a seriously unfunny comedian. That was awkward. Then they split us off into our programs and we met our profs and got some more info, but it was mostly boring stuff like not to cheat and not to be a jerk and other obvious things like that. My program has 16 people. I think I am one of the oldest and pretty sure I’m the only married person. Everyone was pretty shy (inluding me!) and scared (24 hours of lectures + 6 hours of labs a week!!!!).

A guy came to take us on a campus tour, which would have been good if I could figure out which direction we were facing at the start. It was concrete in all directions!! Very confusing. Luckily all of us have the exact same class schedule so really only one of us needs to memorize it and where our classes are, haha.

The tour guide dropped us off in the GREAT HALL where they had all sorts of booths with semi-useful stuff. Best part: free popcorn. Really delicious popcorn actually. I am attending every event from now on that advertises free popcorn!!! I also got some info about the health plan and something called Harvest Box (cheap veg) and free dental cleanings and stuff.

It’s kind of funny how BCIT uses students in different areas of the school. The IT desk is full of IT students. You can get cheap massages and free dental cleanings. Media made by media students. I bet you could get your car fixed for cheap.

See, they should have picked me to be the BCIT Health Science blogger: my first day and I’ve already done a post. FOR FREE. Grrr.

Yippee, two hours of radiopharmaceuticals lab and two hours of anatomy and physiology lecture tomorrow!

So I went from not sleeping at all to sleeping A LOT. Last week I went to the doc again and he prescribed me some drugs to help me fall asleep, since melatonin wasn’t working. No, not sleeping pills– there is no way I would agree to that! Apparently a very low dose of an anti-depressant (like a 7% dose) helps with insomnia. Well I’ve been taking it for a little over a week now and I feel a lot better! I fall asleep quicker and I don’t wake up as much. My energy is back up and I just feel a lot better physically and mentally.

The only problem now is that it seems to be really easy to sleep in. Fine now since I’m on holiday but getting back in to the school schedule is going to hurt for a while. Hopefully once I’m back on a regular schedule I’ll be able to do it all: sleep and live life.

I can’t believe I’m finally starting school tomorrow. After two years of applying I am finally about to start! Amazing. Two years and I’ll be a nuclear medicine technologist. Another one or two after that I could be an MRI technologist!

Which may actually happen, since apparently citizenship applications take about 15 months to get approved. (3 years residence + 15 months application times = staying here a while). Hopefully we have enough money to send Scott home to see his family a few times.

I am spending today fixing Rosemarie’s computer, working on my last painting, doing back to school type chores, and relaxing. We didn’t do too much this holiday weekend but that’s ok. We’re off to Seattle next weekend and then I’ll be deep into school stuff so I will just cherish this free time now.

Since I last updated:

  • Scott updated his blog (link over there on the right –>)
  • I took public transit to Ikea, something I hope never to have to do again (ow my arms)
  • Painted two of three paintings (sneak peek there –>)
  • Had some friends over to warm our house
  • Baked cookies (new recipe, delicious), made guacamole (yum as usual), bloomin cheese bread (ok), and whipped black beans (not so great)
  • Killed Rosemarie’s computer (oops)
  • Watched lots of movies and TV
  • Played Dominion (I won, as usual) and Agricola (I lost, as usual)
  • I won the Jorna family footy tips competition

I had a lot of fun yesterday at the fair at the PNE. I have always loved carnivals. Next year I have to find someone who wants to go on all the rides with me!!

First thing we got a deep fried Mars bar. That’s been on my ‘to try’ list for ages so we gave it a go! The concept was delicious but the batter was weird and ick. I was expecting this:

But we got this:

Huh it looks like a pogo? I don’t even get how it could look like that considering the dude had a box of Mars bars right beside him. I thought batter like that could only come out of a factory.

Anyway I’m glad I tried it but it wasn’t really worth the money.

After that we went on the new GIANT swings thing. It was so tall it makes the drop zone look puny!

It was better than I expected. It went really fast and made my eyes really watery. You got a good view from up there too! Again, glad I tried it, but probably not worth the money or time!

For dinner we had fancy hotdogs. I almost couldn’t decide what to get! Scott convinced me that I could make the macaroni and cheese one at home, but not the poutine one, so I had that. It had fries and gravy and bacon and cheese. Scott had the vegetarian one with corn chips and guacamole and loads of veggies.

Sorry for the crappy pictures. This was instance #2 where I brought the camera but forgot the memory card. BLAAARGHHHH.

The bun was very delicious. Actually the hotdog was the worst part of the whole thing. I didn’t finish the whole thing.

Hair inspiration?

To end the night we went and looked at all the animals, then headed for the buses. Unfortunately we timed our exit at the exact same time that the Kenny Rogers concert finished (dang, I wanted to hear The Gambler!) and we were swarmed by really riled up senior citizens. The entire bus was the seniors section, haha.

Well we made it home, full and happy. A good evening.