Kiwi In Canada!: February 2009

heyhey,

Today, it is the 23rd February 2009; which means that i have been away from NZ for 1month and 2 days. It is really hard to believe that it has been only 1 month; time really does fly. Enough with the cheesy cliche's; in a month i have,

-Been to Los Angeles and visited Universal Studios, Disney Land and Venice Beach
-Had a spa in -20degree weather

-Been to 2 ice hockey game

-Had my laptop broken

-Slept for 14 hours straight (oops!)

-Had my laptop fixed

-Shoveled the driveway after being in Canada 2 days

-Slept in a Quinzhee (snowhut) in -25degree weather

-Gotten lost at school

-Been to the "mall" at lunchtime

-Caught the yellow bus to school

-Played bingo at an elderly persons residense

For 18 outbounds, their lives have been influienced by the magic workings of Rotary. These 18 extraordinary people found out what country they would be spending their year abroad in. Most importantly, it was the 1 lucky person who will experience the laidback lifestyle we have in NZ. It was amazing to see how happy these people were to find out where they will be going. The smiles were from ear to ear. And from smiles, then became questions. From questions became excitement. From Excitement, became fears. For me it was the most rewarding thing was to be able to say "Hi, im Marcus from New Zealand" to the parents of the person who will be venturing down-under. And by that i dont mean Australia!!

Karen from Japan, Katharina from Austria and Myself at announcement day

(from left) Carol from Brazil, Poori from Thailand, Avery bound for Ecuador and Myself at announcement day.

Well i guess i should write something about where in Canada exaclty i am! I stay in a little town, about 117'000 people, called Guelph (gwelf) and im the only exchange student in Guelph.....sad, but true. I go to school which is alot smaller and different than the average school in NZ. School here is split into Academic halls, Athletic halls, and Trade skills. Intertwined in this is the school weights room, cafeteria, 2 full sized basketball courts, a swimming pool and a full gourmet buffet! NZ so needs to upgrade!! In a nutshell, the school is a whole lot of box-like buildings put together to form a school. The school i go to is called Centennial Collegiate & Vocational Institute (yes, a mouthful)

So far, i am enjoying my time here so much and i cant see myself at home in NZ anymore (to be honest, i cant remember what my house looks like!)

The house at which im staying at for the first 3 months

The main street of Guelph with more pubs than people!

The cathedral "church of our lady" located in Downtown Guelph

The view from uptown Guelph with the Church of our lady in the background.

My counsellors business which is located at the University of Guelph

Just some modest advertising at the University

Kia Ora,

19 days after my epic farewell from the land of the lond white cloud, i have had (so far) the experience of a lifetime.

Firstly, Los Angeles Stopover- After 12 hours on a plane, we arrived in America, the land of fun, ready to explore the land of dreams, which is exactly what we experienced when we arrived on the infamous Venice "muscle" Beach. Just cruising along the beach, you notice a number of things. The thing i noticed instantly was the people who were selling homemade items on the footpath/sidewalk. Anything, wether it be big, small, wide, fat or short was on sale. And for reletavley cheap aswell (not that i bought anything......) The next thing i noticed was the aray of bongs and pipes that were for sale. Just walking along i counted 13 pipe stores!! The smell of .... became more evident as we walked further down the beach, so we decided to head back into some more, "fresher" air.

The next day we were off to the world renound DISNEY LAND!! This place had its ups and downs. Great atmophere with all the Disney Characters walking around and all the little kids fighting over which ride they want to go on next but the food really made me miss home and my mothers' cooking. Also, CALIFORNIA LAND!! was a spectacle in itself. The giant letters outside the gates was just amazing.

The next day was UNIVERSAL STUDIOS and after missing the wake up call, we were on our way at 9am. The USA is truely the land of fun. The rides make Rainbows end look like a whole lot of nothing. I guess with the rides being actually "themed" helpes the atmosphere and enjoyment of things. Rides similair to the log flume, dont compare to rides like the Jurassic Park or the mummy. Just so much more adreneline.

After leaving Universal early, we headed on our sightseeing sidetrack of the area of LA. Beverley Hills, Rodeo Drive, Sunset Blvd was just amazing. I guess our Queen street was similair but after venturing casually into louis vuitton and seeing a manbag (aka as fagbag) priced at US$800 i quickly realized that this place was different. US$800 was at the time double the NZD, so it was equevelant to NZ$1600....Justify spending that on a bag.

The 24th Jan was d-day for all exchange student. The bulk of the group were headed for Frankfurt, Germany and then onto their host country. For me, It was onto the land of the Maple Leaf and COLD! On arrival i was greeted with warm smiles from my first host family.

So after almost 3 weeks gone, i have been to America, the land of the weird and wonderful and have been greeted with a smile and a hug. What i have also done is gone winter camping with 17 Inbounds from all over the world and 18 Outbounds which are in the process of finding out which country they will be living abroad for 12 months on this experience of a lifetime.

Camp Wanakita, also known as winter camp was again held in Haliburton, ON which is approx 2 hours north of Toronto city. We were treated with each others company, smiles, fears and hopes of going on an exchange. 4 days of snow was a treat for a little white boy who lives in New Zealand. Cross country skiing was a huge step. Falling over was another. And getting back up was harder than trying to stay up haha

Another experience which i will never forget is sleeping in a "quinzhee" which is a hollwed out mound of snow which can room 4MAX! If it wasn't for the moment of being inside a quinzhee, i surely wouldve froze which is real as the temperature outside was a whopping -25degrees celcuis.....which was very, very cold.

The next evet for us is the announcment day which will be on the 22nd of February....until then ill spot ya later!