Rain Rain Go Away!

Salut (that's French slang for hello),

I knew my luck with the weather would run out eventually, I hate it though. It's been raining off and on here in Vancouver since we arrived on Friday. The locals are getting upset too, they said this much rain in the summer is not typical. I've still been having a good time though.

Our trip up here was interesting, never been stopped by immigration before. I guess the guy at the border thought it was a little suspicious having an American, Belgian, and a French in the truck. He made us pull over and go in and talk to immigration. Go figure, I was the one that had the most trouble getting into Canada. I only had a drivers license as id, I totally forgot to bring a copy of my birth certificate. I was given a quick verbal quiz on the U.S. by the woman working the immigration counter. "Who's the president? How many terms did Clinton serve? Who was president before Clinton? What's the address of the White House?" I was a little nervous, but I got them all right. So, I'm in Canada! Getting back into the states might be a little tougher. She asked if I was confident I could answer questions that only an American could answer, I hope I can.

The hostel I'm staying in is really cool, great location. It's on Granville street which is the "entertainment street", there's bars, clubs, restaurants, shops, etc... The first floor of the hostel is a bar/restaurant and all the rooms are upstairs. There's a good mix of people staying here too.

When we got to town, we were all a little tired and decided to have a relaxing night...of course it was raining too. We made dinner in the hostel, had a couple drinks and called it a night. Yesterday, we get up and...still raining. We decided to go check out the Vancouver Art Museum, great decision. The exhibition they were showing was called "Monet to Dali", it was really good. I got to see works from all the greats: Monet, Manet, Cezanne, Picasso, Dali, Van Gogh, etc... It was pretty special having all of these greats together in one place. I learned alot about art yesterday, we were there 3 hours. Down the street from the hostel is a Micheal Godard gallery, I love his stuff. If I were to ever buy art, it would definitely be something from him. After the museum, Peter and Stephanie had to move hostels, so we got their bags and got them checked into another one. We had our last supper last night and of course a night on the town. Their bus left at 11:00 this morning. I really hated to see them leave, I believe I have some new friends I'll have for the rest of my life. They are amazing people, I learned so much from both of them. I promised I would come visit them. So...maybe I'll have a European blog next summer???

Not doing much today, not a lot of energy. It's been a computer day for me. I looked at some hostels throughout Canada and have a pretty good idea of my my last couple weeks. I think I'll be stopping in Kelowna, Banff, Calgary, and Winnipeg before heading back to good ole midwest. This summer has gone by so fast, I can't believe it's winding down.

Oh, almost forgot. Hey Kris! Not travelling with any Spanish, just practicing a little bit. I decided I'm going to take a Spanish class when I get back. I checked it out, and SWIC has a night class on Tuesdays I'm going to take. It just hit me one day when I was walking through a park in Portland. I'm really excited about it. It makes so much sense too. I have to do professional development anyway, so why not do something I want to do. Plus, it will move me up the pay scale and who knows, maybe I'll take enough to get a certification in Spanish. A Spanish speaking teacher can pretty much write their own ticket. I think it's going to be a good move for me.

Hope everyone has had a good weekend. I'm a little upset I missed the British Open, I just read about it and it sounded like it was a great tournament. I haven't sat and watched tv since I left. I haven't even really been keeping up with baseball, I try to set my fantasy lineup every now and then, that's about it. I'm guessing the Cardinals still have a bullpen for a starting rotation?? See you all soon!

Cheers,

Dough