In the Google stand at Heathrow airport

Right - firstly excuse me if this post is a little less than comprehensive and readible... I have just gotten off a plane from Toronto - not slept much - and it is about 4:44 am Winnipeg time... but it is all good as I AM GOING HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS!!! I am so excited!

I was walking by and saw something and thought - deja vu - the google stand at heathrow. I saw pics of it online and yeah - i walked in - sat down and am now creating a post to my blog.

I know I havent posted for a while - and wont even start trying to explain why...

So for everyone who is in Zim or will be there over the christmas holidays - please get in touch - i would love to hear from everyone and catch up if possible...

I will likely be back - coz i have a long wait here and there is not much else for me to do here!!!

Corn Mazes and Diversity Breakfasts...

So I actually had quite an eventful weekend (for me, in Canada... in case anyone has some wise cracks).

On Friday night, on the way out of the client this other guy from work, Mike (who was at that night in Calgary at the Stampede), said we should go for a couple of beers. So we went across the street to a Moxies (which is a restaurant/bar type place - v nice). So anyway one beer turned into a few and yeah went home and slept pretty well :P

Then I was invited to go to a halloween thing at a "corn maze". So I got dressed up as a cowboy (coz I still have the OTT cowboy hat from Stampede) and yeah met up with this group of people. The person organising it works at Air Canada, where I am doing a lot of work at at the moment. The corn maze was pretty kewl actually, its jst a massive field of maize with a maze cut into it; and you have to locate various point in the maze according to a checklist. So it was nice to jst spend some time with other people and chill with them afterwards.

Sunday morning I was picked up with Rick and we met up with Rowena, the other TSRS person in Winnipeg, for a "diversity breakfast". The thing is that the TSRS team in Canada is very multicultural so they often do "diversity" dinners where they will go to a Portuguese or Chinese restaurant. Well the Winnipeg team is all non-Canadian, so we decided to go out to this place called Green Gates for a breakfast, which we assume is a Canadian one. So anyways it is a buffet style and the food is amazing! 4 or 5 star type food. Lets just say I was very satisfied after leaving there! Wow!

"Other" Pics

This is the view out of the boardroom at EY on a particularly gloomy summer day. You can see the local baseball team's (The Goldeyes) diamond in this. The river you see in this picture is the Red River, and further upstream (to the right) is "the Forks" where the Assiniboine and Red rivers meet. It apparently has historical relevance during the fur trading times... Not totally sure bout all tho...
This is me in the CN Tower in Toronto standing on the glass floor. The CN tower is the tallest tower in the world (somewhere around 500m high).
This is me, very tired from not sleeping well, on Canada day (July 1st). Yes, I did end up going out looking like this... But everyone was dressed up all goofy lookin!
This is at the one large tent at the Calgary Stampede. Not sure what time this was, but it looks as though it was after a number of beers. The other guy in the photo is Mike, who works at EY.
This is the municiple building in Winnipeg. Not sure if you can see it clearly but there is a golden statue of a boy on top of the building. Everyone refers to it as the "golden boy", and it looks pretty good on a sunny day (which this wasnt)!

Niagara Falls Pics

This is me on the boat "Maid of the Mist" with the American Niagara Falls behind me. This is right in the beginning. The American falls are just straight falls and really arent as impressive as the Canadian falls. Look below to see me after we have been through the mist of the Canadian Niagara Falls!!!

This a pic of me pointing at the Canadian Niagara Falls after going through the mists at the bottom of the falls on a boat. Absolutely incredible overall experience as the roar of the falls was all around (the Canadian Falls are a horseshoe shape - hence the nickname "the horseshoe falls") , whats like heavy rain coming in sudden rushes, the boat churning up and down in the turbulent water, the sun being obscured at times because of mist.

Belated update

Yes I know - you have all probably had a look at the date of my last post and thought - "wow he has been lazy - not updating his blog for xx number of weeks". Do I have an excuse? Yes. Is it valid? Nope.

In terms of exciting things which have happened since my last post - I dont have much to report. I have been working pretty hard, but keep getting reminded that it will get busier still as this year end comes up. None-the-less I think I am starting to become a little more comfortable with the work that I'm doing, however it will be a while still until I feel like I have a complete handle on things.

Rick has been awesome, having me round to his house on weekends, keeping me out of mischief, helping with my sanity! Ted, the IT guy from work, has been really good too - I have been round to his place a few times too.

Thanksgiving was a couple of weeks back (for some reason Canada and the US have different dates for thanksgiving - no idea why!) and I went to Ted's house and had dinner with them. Peggy also had a dinner on the Friday night, which was awesome.

Everyone seems to be getting all excited about halloween now here, with decorations going up all over the place. I guess it must be one of those things that you grow up being excited about. I may be going to some party at someone from work's house this weekend, which should be interesting!

I am heading home to Zimbabwe in December (the 14th for all you interested people) and thats getting pretty close now. I am so excited to be able to see my family and friends. Not so sure about being excited about being back in the country, but y'know its still home no matter what happens to it...

Update for the past 2 weeks...

I know I haven't posted here for a while, and I apologise for that!! The week before last was just a whirlwind of confused emotions as you can imagine with my Ouma(grandmother) dying. Everyone that I know here was SO supportive and I really appreciated that. My partner in Calgary left me a voicemail expressing his condolences and basically saying that the firm would support me in whatever way it could! Rick was so supportive, offering to have me over for dinner and checking in on me regularly, which really helped to ground me in reality.

I was scheduled to go to Toronto last week for the whole week, which I went on, because it would take my mind off things a bit, so that was good to see a different part of the country and to work on a new client. I had a good time in Toronto, went and saw the beaches area, the downtown area including the CN tower (the tallest tower in the world!!).

After the week was over (it was a short one, as the firm gave Friday off for the last long weekend of the summer) my colleague and I went to Niagara falls, which is about a two hour drive. All I can say is that it was majestic, beautiful and awe inspiring! These peeps say it it one of the seven natural wonders of the world, but I checked it out and - nope! But still got a chance to see one of those this winter - the northern lights!!

BTW in case anyone was wondering - here are the 7 natural wonders of the world.

Mount Everest
Northern Lights
Paricutin Volcano
The Harbour at Rio De Janeiro
Victoria Falls
Grand Canyon
Great Barrier Reef

Ouma

I received news from Zimbabwe yesterday after lunch that my grandmother/Ouma had passed on. I know she has been really bad for a while, and to a certain extent I should have been prepared for it, but one never is prepared for that sort of news.

My parents had just gotten back from their holiday in South Africa, and my Ouma was still in Dandaro medical centre (which is like a medical centre for older people). My mom says she had visited with my Ouma already that morning for a long time, but something told her she should visit again in the evening. When she got there my Ouma was making a fuss with the nurses etc and her medication, so my mom told them to go and she would sort it. Once that was done my mom was going, and at the door, whem my Ouma called her in a very sweet and quiet voice asking if could just come and rub her feet for a little bit (My Ouma was in so much pain all over, esp. her feet). So as my mom was doing that, my Ouma stopped breathing.

I am so thankful that my mom was there at the last, and that my Ouma passed peacefully. That is always what I prayed for her, that she would pass peacefully when it was time.

My Ouma was an amazing person in so many different ways, not just as a grandmother for me. She was persistent and mostly successful in things that she put her mind to. She was loving and kind and had one of the most beautiful hearts I know. She was very loved, and I know will be missed sorely by more people that I think even she realised! I could go on about the times we spent together, but I think it will suffice to quote something I often wrote in cards to her; "Thank you for being the Best Ouma in The World".

Ouma, I know you are up in Heaven right now, and I just ask that you nudge God in the side and ask him to send just a little bit extra strength and understanding to my family right now.

I love you Ouma. Forever.

3 months later, many uncomfortable nights

I should be getting my couch today... Yay!!! Can you people believe that is the highlight of my weekend!!! So yeah I ordered it with the rest of my furniture and it only came into stock recently... I think (I dont remember fully) that is is a VERY soft suede and is a darker beige sort of colour... Should look really great, and it was comfortable too...

Then I also got a new PC here... (Yeah a lot of spending I know). Its a P4 HT 2.8 on with Intel and SiS MoBo components, 160 GB SATA drive, 1Gb ram, DVD-RW. But something is not working and i suspect it is the windows installation cd... anyways... when it starts working it will be a nice pc!!

My Vancouver visit

So this past weekend I went to Vancouver. I flew in on the Sunday afternoon and I walked around a bit and it seems like a very pretty city, but it has that big city feel. Y'know! I went there for training so the next two days were perty boring! It was mostly irellevant to me and I feel I got VERY LITTLE out of it. Anyways, I got to the see the city.

Monday night was awesome coz my Great Aunt Thea just happened to be in town from the UK for a conference. I hadnt seen her since I was like 10!!! We went out to dinner and just chatted, and it was really really kewl. She is such a nice person to chat to! She's like 83, but only in body (and thats only her back which makes her bend over), she is still a vibrant interesting person when you chat to her. So that was great, I look forward to seeing her again if I can next year if/when I go visit the Uk.

On the last night we went out as a group to some restuarant, which was kewl, had a very nice meal then some few beers. The partner then decided it was time for him to make an exit, but apparently when partners make an exit here it doesnt necessarily mean they stop paying... He told someone that they should continue paying and he would approve the expense claim... So we went from there to some pool lounge and had a pool tourney....

It was kewl coz we had Canada vs the rest of the world (there were a lot of immigrants there)Now any of you who have played against me in pool know that I can play, but not what you would call good.. Then how is it that team Zimbabwe/China won the whole thing!!?

So that was great and then one guy and I decide to walk home now, it is only apparently a few blocks away. So as we are walking he recognises this club that his mate works in, and yeah we get in for free there, felt v good coz there was a long queue of people to get in the door!! So it was quite a nice club, pretty girls, alright music. We had two drinks there and then left, it was pretty late by now and I had a flight at like 7 in the morning!!

Well thats about it - not much time for sightseeing etc, but its a great place, and definitely somewhere I would like to visit for longer and get to see more fully.

Now back in Winnipeg!

Its been a bit of a hectic week workwise, but its the weekend now, which is great! On Thursday night I went with Peg and co to some "Folkorama pavillions". Basically what happens is that countries set aside a hall and do a song/dance and serve the local food for that country. Its actually pretty well organised and there are like 26 different countries doing it. I went to the "African" one and the Israeli one.

The "African" pavillion was ok, very commercialised as you can imagine, with lots of dancing and drumming etc. Didn't want to burst too many people's bubbles, but it was NOTHING like the stuff I have seen in Zim or elsewhere in Africa. And the food was basically stewed beef and samosas (they dont call them samoosas here, and they also dont pronounce it with an "oo" its an "o" - so when I tried to order one the other day I got some v strange looks!!)

The Israeli one was also pretty good, but I am sure just as commercialised as the African one. Enjoyed it none-the-less. Last night (Friday) I looked after Rick's kids, coz their eldest, Robert is now the "legal-age" to baby sit, so I was jst there in case something horribly wrong happened. They are such good kids really, polite and friendly, so was actually a pleasure. I stayed the night at Ricks place afterwards, and today (Sat) we are going to Gimli, which is on the shores of Lake Winnipeg. Its basically like a beach town I have been told. If you have time sometime, to
understand how big Lake Winnipeg is, have a look at it's size in comparison to somewhere like Kariba. Kariba is 5,580.00 km2 (thanks to some Googling) and Lake Winnipeg is 24,500.00 km2 - around 4 and a half times as big!!

Back to Reality?!?

Well this afternoon I am flying back to Winnipeg, which will actually be a welcome return. It has been absolutely AWESOME spending time in Calgary, spending time with Jen and Adam, but in a strange sort of way it is time to get back to some sort of familiarity, and I have to say that Winnipeg is the closest thing that I have in Canada to that!!

I went to a South African restaurant with Jen, Adam and a couple of their friends last night. It is called Jabulani (which means celebrate or something like that). It was soooo great, I had a starter with biltong and driewors, then had boerewors and pap/sadza, all the meantime sipping on a Castle... Very nostalgic time for me! So much so that on the way we managed to find a liquor store which stocked Castle, and I bought a 6-pack to take back with me to Winnipeg!

Its gonna be weird getting back to my appartment, I will have laundry to do that I left, I wont have any food in the house, I will have to vacuum etc etc... I sound far too domesticated don't I!!!

Got so many things to sort out when I get back too, like sorting out a savings account so that I can facilitate savings for when I get back to Zim... Also got the bills to pay, and just sorting out the work on that side!! Its all good tho!!

London bombings

I'm sure most of you got my email "Roll Call" the other week to find out if you were affected by the blasts at all. I was very concerned as I know a LOT of people who are in the UK and in London specifically. Luckily no-one that I know was actually affected at all.

The latest couple of bombs that were found on busses are a worry tho. It just shows how vulnerable society is to these sort of threats. Even with the whole city still at a heightened state of emergency these bombs found their way onto the busses.

I heard on the news last night (I was listening to some American channel) that people travelling by the underground and busses may encounter similar precautions as the ones in airports to check baggage etc. I shudder to think what sort of chaos would prevail if everyone had to be checked before jumping on public transport... Everyone would have to leave an hour earlier everyday just to compensate for these checks!!

Its crazy, but it may actually be necessary. Not sure what the end impact of these bombings is going to be, but one thing is for sure, it is definitely raising the temperature in a pressure cooker which is already steaming...

(I thought I had updated this... my bad)

Well I've been in Calgary since my last post and nothing all that exciting has happened, I have been working hard, and its been a little bit difficult. Trying to do things the way that they do things in EY Canada is a little bit of a mind-twist for me! Just remember that I only really know the way things worked in Zimbabwe, and that was probably not quite right but it was the best that we could have done. Then I had like 6 (six) months where I basically did nothing to do with IT audit, and now i'm in full swing with everything in a different way! I just hope that what I am doing is adequate!

I saw Adam and Jen last weekend which was kewl, we jst caught some flicks and chilled, was good to just be able to relax and chat to someone for a bit! I went to church with Jen on Sunday, we found some church relatively near her and that was good coz she hadn't really been going much. So yeah all good on that front!

This weekend I probably will go shopping for some clothes, coz that seems to be what people do here... Not so sure if I am all enthusiastic about it - but gonna do it none-the-less!! May also catch a movie and chill in one of the parks around here... Its a beautiful city, really beautiful, the guys are mostly the cowboy type, which can get a little annoying, but c'est la vie!

I'm kind of looking forward to going back to Winnipeg in a strange kind of way as it is the closest thing I have to a home at the moment!

Stampede weekend

Well this past weekend I spent in Calgary, and it was pretty good. On Friday the whole of the downtown area closes down and there is a parade which goes through the middle of the town with floats and everything. Actually pretty good, I was a bit skeptical initially as I did not think that just watching some floats go by would be worth the time!

Then I went to one of the malls with Jen and Adam (Jen's one of my friends from Zim and Adam is her other half). It was fun, they bought some roller blades and we jst had some fun going around the mall. We then went and watched "The Fantastic Four", as it was new on the circuit. I am not a movie critic and will not pretend to be one. Put it this way - it way entertaining enough that you can veg and watch it.

I went back to my hotel after that - and as I was getting out of the cab I saw some EY people from Winnipeg outside the hotel as well. They were here for training, and they invited me to join them for dinner, which I did and then I went out with them afterwards. A group of us went to the stampede grounds to the one stage and bar there called "Nashville North". It wasnt bad at all if you dont mind country music. Needless to say we had a number of beverages each and by about four in the morning we were ready to leave. On the way out some people stopped at one of the rides, which for some reason was still operating. So me, in my wise, brave state decided to go on the ride. It is basically a massive beam hinged in the middle with baskets on either side. At the top I would estimate that you are about 80ft up. All this "ride" basically does is spins you round at some massive Gs. I went on that and, surprisingly, was fine afterwards.

The next day was pretty much a recovery day as you can imagine. Yesterday, Sunday, I went out again with Jen, Adam and Randy (Randy is Jen & Adam's friend). We went to the stampede grouds and looked around and they went on some rides, and it was a pretty good time. After that we went back to Jen's appartment and watched a DVD - "the Life Aquatic" and it was pretty good, even though the first 20 minutes were very confusing and not all that compelling. (and here I was saying I am not a movie critic!!!)

My section at EY in Calgary are all visiting the Stampede today, just now actually, as a group. Should be fun, but not going to go on any rides or go overboard I dont think. We will have to see though!

Typed in Winnipeg Airport, on my way to Calgary

Well, I am typing this while sitting in the airport waiting for my flight as it has been delayed! No internet access that I have found yet, so jst cracked open my laptop and thought I had better update my blog. By the way in case you dont realise why I am in the airport I am going to Calgary for about 4 weeks for work. Doing a SOX audit for a major Cable and Comms company there. I will also be there for Stampede (which I explained in another blog post). I was being told different things for the past couple of weeks as to whether I would or wouldnt be going to the Stampede - and well now I am - got my ticket in hand - my room at the Sheraton (yeah yeah I know I am totally spoilt) reserved and I am there!!!

Let me think - what has happened since I last updated this - well we have had Canada day this past Friday (1 July)! Was pretty kewl - everyone here is so patriotic!! Well it seems like that anyways! The main street just near me (Osborne Road) was closed off for a couple of days and there was just a massive street party going on for all hours (yeah I could hear it all going on at about 3 in the morning - but it was not keeping me awake - couldnt sleep for some reason) So I went to that the one night - and yeah everyone seemed to be having a great time - they had bands playing at different points down the street and yeah a good time was just had by all!

Oh right - the night before Canada Day I went to a Karaoke evening with Peg, her daughter, Unity, and Peg's best friend and fiance. Yeah I was not keen to do any songs as my last experience was in the Bull & Bush in Botswana and it was nothing I want to be reminded of. I did end up helping both Unity and Peg out with their songs so I did get up on the stage and it wasnt that bad - so next time I go to a Karaoke evening I will probably get up and sing!

This past Saturday I spent helping Peg (my relocation agent - but more jst a mate here) move into her new appartment (which jst happens to be in the same building as me!!!) So that was a very tiring day, but we got it done - still the main work is still ahead of her with unpacking all the boxes etc!!

Update

I went to watch a baseball game last saturday, which was really good fun actually. I had watched a couple back in Zim when I was very young (coz my Dad was a baseball pitcher back in his day - he played for Rhodesia and for Eastern Province). The local team is called the Goldeyes (its some fish apparently). Anyways they won against a Kansas City team (as you can guess they are not in the major leagues!)

On Sunday I flew in to Calgary to see Jen (my friend from Zim) and she is well. I got to meet her boyfriend, Adam, who is really great! So I just had a day visit there and spent time with them and went to a formal doo thing with them too. Looking forward to when I get to go to Calgary for work as I will be able to hang with them a bit!

This week has been a bit of a non-event in terms of things to write - it got REALLY hot on Wed and Thur and then rained on Thursday evening. When I say really hot I mean it was probably 28/29 degrees C, but the humidity was unreal - I have never experienced anything like that - even at the coast!!! On Wednesday night I hardly slept it was so hot - my entire bed was soaked in the morning! So I am starting to see what the whole story with the summers here is like. Now just gotta wait for the winter......

No real plans for this coming weekend tho - just gonna do the domestic thing and clean my appartment and all that... Might go shopping for some more stuff that I have realised I need. So much fun hey!

Calgary watch out!

So Rick told me yesterday that I will be going to Calgary at the beginning of July for 3 or 4 weeks!! Great news, as I really thought it looked like a nice place; well, all that I could tell from my fly in fly out visit a couple of weeks ago!

I will be there during "Stampede Week", which apparently is something like the biggest outdoor exhibition in the world. Something like that anyways. Check out this website - I believe it has all the info. It is basically one week out of the year when the whole city just goes crazy, people wear jeans to work etc. They have rodeos going on, as well as "chuckwagon races" which I have been told I have to see to believe. These chuckwagon races have wagons being drawn by four horses and each wagon has four outriders. That constitutes one team - and four teams compete at the same time through an inital loading section to a circuit. Still not quite sure what all that means but that is my understanding.

They also have live music by well known artists going on the whole time there, which is awesome as I should be able to go to some concerts!

I am also excited as I will be able to see Jen (my friend from Zim) and meet her boyfriend, Adam, who I have heard so much about! So this promises to be a good time all in all - with a bit of work thrown in there !

BBQ Time

Yesterday I went to a braai/BBQ (depending on where you are in the world). Rick was having another family round so he invited me. It was great, he had a brand new gas barbeque which he had assembled that morning. Its a massive thing, and as we found out gets really hot really quick!

I made a quick marinade for the beef, which actually worked quite well, everyone commented on it (in a good way people). But the weather was rather disappointing to say the least. It was cloudy and drizzling for a lot of the time. That really annoyed me as in the morning it was hot and sunny!

So we had the braai and some good chats with everyone over a few glasses of red wine, and my first Barbeque in Canada was over. Mission successful!

Bears on Broadway

On Friday night I saw the Bears on Broadway! Ok clarification needed here - there is a street in Winnipeg called Broadway - and as a charity spectacle the cancer society has had over 50 huge bear sculptures all along Broadway. Each has been uniquely painted and are sponsored by a company or individual.

I went there with Peggy, her best friend & best friend's boyfriend. It was pretty kewl seeing all of these close up - some of the detail is amazing! I havent actually checked all the photo's yet, but I got sent all the photos - and they are here (click here) if you would like to see them!

Another week past, many still to come!

Well it's Thursday here, and time seems to be passing pretty quickly. I am enjoying my appartment, its great to have my own space, but then again I have to keep it tidy, which is the main issue at the moment. I am trying my best to be tidy; but for those who know me; but I find it quite difficult. And doing things like washing dishes, doing laundry, all that stuff, its all totally foreign to me!

I have managed to get around a bit on the bus system here, albeit a bit of a jump on a bus and hope it was the correct one. They are all numbered and have their specific routes etc. The inside is really pretty clean and the whole system is very acceptable. I am just used to being able to jump into a car and go where I need to go, and more importantly KNOW where I can go!! But that will all come with time.

All the emails from back home have been slowing down, so I am presuming that one of the following has happened:

1. the government has completely shut down emails and all forms of external communication
2. PTC is not working (a very likely one)
3. people have gotten so bored of my blog posts that they dont feel motivated enough to email me
4. I have been unofficially labelled as completely crazy and everyone has been warned off emailing me in case it causes a breakdown

If none of the above apply to your person, please do feel free to email me at will, even a "one-liner" would be great, not expecting novels (needless to say none of you should be expecting anything like that from me).

And yes, yes, yes, I know that everyone asked about pictures and want to see stuff and everything. I apologise for not taking any and posting them somewhere, I shall endevour, when I get home tonight to take some photos and then post them somewhere and then put the link up here!!

I'm alive

Yes, yes I know, I havent posted to my blog in 9ish days! And I apologise for that! I've been so hectic with stuff this side.

I had all my furniture delivered this past weekend, and well everything comes in pieces! So now my mission has been to try and put all this stuff together! I am not all that much of a DIY person either so thats not helping out!

Then on Sunday I went shopping with Peggy, for all of the stuff that I need for the house, from vacuum cleaners to linen to garbage bin liners!! So that was good fun (not really but its essential I guess). So now my appartment is full of stuff. Well not quite FULL, but its got the essentials - I hope!!

I am hoping to move everything from the hotel (all my clothes and everything that I brought from Zim) to the appartment on Saturday morning. Only then because, I am going to Calgary tomorrow. Flying in, going to a workshop, flying back tomorrow night!

I will endevour to take some photos in the next couple of days and figure out the best way to get them to everyone!

The May Long Weekend

This past weekend (incl Monday) was a long weekend - not quite sure what for (Memorial Day or something like that)!

As you have read in previous posts here I have an appartment; well that means I then needed to furnish it - hence what I did on Saturday! I went shopping with Peggy, who has been really great I might add, and we started at the one store, but the salesman was really pushy and they didnt really have the range of furniture I was hoping for. I ended up going to "The Brick", another furniture store, and buying everything there. I spent quite a bit of money as furniture is ridiculously priced here (I mean totally over the top priced compared to other things like electrical goods and clothes etc). I managed to get the following:

• A sofa - which is really nice - its beige and SO comfortable - but was out of stock and will only be delivered in about 5 weeks.
• A bed - Queen size - which is also really comfy - and it came with a free 24" TV, DVD player, and digi cam - so finally I shall be able to post pictures for those of you who have been asking for pics!!
• A single chair and ottoman(sp) - its all kind of colour co-ordinated so it looks ok - this is just to sit in until my sofa comes!
• A table and chairs - its a glass top, and the colours also all kind of go.

So the above came to a ridiculous amount - but it had to be done and well from here I can just buy slowly slowly and build up my collection of stuff.

Then on Sunday I was picked up by Rick after church and I went round to his place. We went to the park and flew a couple of kites with his one son, Paulo. That was really fun, as I have not flown a kite properly for quite a while.

Yesterday (Monday) Rick picked me up in the morning and I joined his family on a trip to the beach!! Yes, Winnipeg has a beach! Its on Lake Winnipeg, so it is not an ocean beach, but its pretty darn good none-the-less! We had a picnic out there and the kids had an awesome time making sand castles and everything. The water was pretty chilly, but bearable! It was Rick's family's first time out there as well, and I think a good time was enjoyed by all.

Interesting Winnipeg fact #1

'Winnie-the-Pooh' is named after Winnipeg. Read a short history of this below!

http://www.just-pooh.com/history.html

And the results are in...

I have been accepted for the appartment!! I will be moving into a south facing (much lighter) appartment on one of the top floors of the Penth0use Towers (sounds all fancy hey!!)! I am very excited as now I have my first place of residence of my OWN!

I will be going furniture shopping on Saturday with Peggy to buy everything I will need and I will hopefully schedule delivery for next Saturday (28th) and will move in soon after that!

I'll try get some photo's of it for everyone when I can, I'll probably have to ask Rick if I can borrow his digi cam and take some snaps!

Found an appt!

I have found the appartment that I wanna stay in. Its on a road which is right by the river (I think its the Red river). It is very very nice. I have had a look at quite a few appartments today and this is by far the best I have seen! Its all carpeted, and has stove and fridge. The building itself is well maintained and you can see they are putting a lot of money into the building. Once my application is approved I should be able to move in on Jun 1!!

I am going into a 2 bedroom one first of all, coz that is all that is available - its on the expensive side, but definitely worth it. Once a 1 bedroom one is available the building manager said it should be ok for me to move into that. The 1 bedroom one is a bit cheaper (coming more into my affordable range), but the building is actually just too good for me to pass up any appartment.

So all I gotta do now is fill in the application form, send it in with a security deposit, and then (thinking positive here) I will be moving in!! I'm very excited about this, it's gonna be a bit of a project for me to put my own touches on my own place! (Considering this will be my FIRST place)

Same old

Well, the work here seems to bring about the same old problems as it did back in Zimbabwe, or Botswana. Not too sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing tho!!

I'm pretty busy trying to get this one section of work done for a client, and well, the same sort of differences pop up the whole time! At least I kind of know what sort of direction to take from here!

I am going appartment hunting with Peggy just now, but its gonna be a bit of a problem as I will have to try and get the renters to wait until about the 28th of the month till I have enough in my account to actually pay the deposit and the rent! Its a bit of a problem when you are coming from a country like Zim where you dont really have savings, and if you do they are minute! Oh well, I am sure I will work a plan, I kinda have to!

untitled due to lack of inspiration

Its not as bad as the title describes! Its Sunday afternoon and none of the plans which I had have actually materialised...

I was meant to head to that barbeque yesterday - if you look further down in my posts you will probably find that... But the weather was shocking and as it was an outdoors thing it was cancelled! :(

None-the-less Peggy still picked me up for a bit of a look around for an appartment. We went and had coffee and looked through the papers etc.. There is so much on the market, it is going to be difficult to decide on where I should live... Also quite a few deciding factors like accessability to main bus routes and large shops (as the smaller shops are generally a lot more expensive). We will have to see what I can organise though!

Then today I went to the same church just around the corner from me - and it is fine - nothing to make me too worried about their theology just yet - and well the people are pretty friendly!

Peggy's daughter, Unity, was going to take me around town today a bit on the buses jst to show me the town from that point of view, but she had to cancel coz her dad needed her for something or other... I'll be heading with Rick an his fam to a fair in a bit - which should be fun!

I read a short book this weekend - and when I say short it took me like 1 hour, which shows you how short it is - called "Who moved my Cheese". Its a very simple story, but definitely worth the read! It talks about 4 characters who are like mouse size and how they deal with their cheese supply being moved (basically changes in life). Its well written and very easy reading - I would recommend it to anyone to read if they have a chance! I actually have an electronic copy of it so if anyone would like that just email me and I'll send it to you!

Its Thursday and...

... I am still completely overwhelmed! Work is really starting to kick into full swing, which is great, as it keeps me busy and not getting home sick!

Something which keeps amazing me each time I come across it is the bandwidth out of this place. (For the non-techie people - bandwidth is basically the speed of your internet - if you can imagine a water pipe, if you have a very small pipe - i.e. Zimbabwe - you can only get a small amount of water through, but if you have a big pipe you can obviously move water through the pipe a lot faster).

On a daily basis my machine is backed up to a data centre in Cleveland - and not just my documents or anything like that - my ENTIRE machine - all 15 odd gigabytes of it... And quickly too - initially it took about half an hour but now it takes 10 minutes to scan through the drive for changes and back those changes up.

Let me put that into perspective - it probably updates about 100 Mb of my backup a day - depending on how many changes i have made. In Zimbabwe if you were lucky on a dial up you would get about 10 true Mb through in an HOUR. This does 10x that in 10 minutes - with most of that time actually scanning through the drive!

I downloaded a 2Mb file just now and it took 10 seconds!

Anyways - as people who know me well will understand - I am extremely happy with that part of the 'Canadian Experience'!

Yesterday I went shopping for groceries at a Canadian SuperStore. The store is just completely ginormous - even that does not describe it! At a complete guestimate you could probably fit about 15-30 Jaggers size stores INSIDE this one store! So shopping there was amazing - apart from the standard bombardment with choices!

After that I went with Peggy (my relocation agent) to a recital. It was some scholarship recital where young people got the chance to sing in public. There were four singers altogether each performing about 4 songs. I was impressed at the voices these youngsters had - and I mean they are not much older than about 18 and their voices were so well developed.

Anyways from there I went back to the hotel and had some pasta for dinner (Yes, I mostly just bought pasta, coz that is the quickest and easiest thing to do for one person!!).

Oh yes and I have a high speed internet connection to my room so I can connect to the work network from my room using a VPN (Non-tech note: Virtual Private Network - it allows you to connect to your work network securely and use it as if you were sitting at work - you can even print to one of the printers!!)

There is a cheese and wine event going on in the board room today at 4:30 so I might head there and try and meet some of the top dogs in EY Winnipeg. Not too keen on the whole combination of cheese and wine, but anyways!

K, well, work beckons, shall post again soon!

The first day

I arrived a little late for work on the first day unfortunately as I was
trying to find a dry walkway (but failed) to the office!

It was another eyeopener as they are SO up-to-date with all the technology!!
I got my laptop and spent the morning filling out forms and chatting with
the HR lady. In the afternoon I was grabbed by Rick whospent a long time
trying to update me from Zimbabwe TSRS to Canada TSRS. I still think it
will take quite a bit of time to get there, but i will most definitely make
it!!

Well its Tuesday now, and I have an Audit breakfast I need to be in about 20
minutes, and I have not started getting ready at all!!! So I will have to
love you and leave you!

Shall try update this soon!!

The first weekend

Well this weekend I spent quite a bit of time at Rick's place on Fri and
Sat, and well thats when I sent the group email you saw in the previous
post. That is such a welcoming family, you have to see it to believe it!

On Sunday, I woke up a little bit early, in anticipation of going to the 9am
church service at a Presby church a few blocks away. I walked and walked
and walked, but to no avail! I could not find this church for love or
money. So I started my walk back and stopped at a Starbucks. They are big
into "building" their own coffees here, which I was not brave enough to try
and so I just took something off the menu. Pretty good nonetheless!

Then, as I was walking back, I saw another church just around the corner
from me who had services at 11. So I went to that service, which was very
pleasant, a bit too happy-clappy for me (which I didnt think I would say).

I was then reading the entertainment mag in my room and found that the
Ballet was having a matinee on Sunday afternoon. I decided to head to that,
and found it was actually not all that bad! Added to that the audience was
mainly just chicks as well (smile)!

On my way home I thought I would explore the downtown area (Its not actually
that bad an area in case anyone was beginning to worry a little) and I
walked a v long way. Most shops were closed however, being 5:30 in the eve
on a Sunday.

A copy of my first email to everyone

Hi All,

I am in Winnipeg!! It took a lot of organisation and support and patience (Thanks to my mom and my dad esp as well as to my friends who supported and helped me so much). Sorry, that sounded a lot like a Oscar speech!

It was a VERY long flight, as those of you who are on the other sides of the globe from Zimbabwe will most likely know. It is enough to say that it is not something I would like to go through again in a hurry! Even today, two days later, I am still absolutely exhausted and a bit jet-lagged! Unfortunately I did not sit next to any very interesting people for any of the flights (no-one for the Hre-Jhb leg, an older woman from PE who was a bit slow for the Jhb-Lon leg, and a strange, virtually mute Belgian guy for the Lon-Tor leg!). I have to say that after the two long hauls I know exactly why people call "Economy Class" :Cattle Class", there was hardly enough room to sit upright with your arms crossed!!

When I arrived in Toronto it was a bit of a rush as I only had two hours to sort out all of the immigration stuff and work permit etc and also check into the Winnipeg flight. I was given wrong directions at first and ended up running around the airport like a headless chicken, only to be told that I had to go to a different terminal by bus. As I was rushing up some stairs one of the handles on one of my suitcases snapped off!! At that point I just lost it, as can be imagined! The people around me must have been a little worried for their lives, but I think I handled it fine for someone who was already jetlagged and had been travelling for over 30 hours with very little sleep. Needless to say I JUST made the flight after pleading with the check-in agent!

I arrived in Winnipeg and was met by a relocation agent called Peggy, who has been very very sweet to me, helping me open up a bank account and get a Social Insurance Number (which apparently you need for lots of things). She has also shown me around town quite a bit and I will be going to a Barbeque (a braai for those still in Zim) with her daughter and her next Saturday afternoon.

What I have seen of Winnipeg so far is very impressive, everything actually works!! The shops (or stores as they call them here) have so much choice, I thought stores in South Africa had a lot of choice, but this is just plain mind-blowing.

At this stage I am still in a bit of a state of shock as everything is new, but I have a feeling it will all get familiar and things will work out well! (A lot better than my first impressions of Botswana at least!!)

I will endevour to keep in touch with everyone individually in time, but I just thought a decent length first email was in order to bring everyone up to speed!

Well, thats all for now people, I will email again next week when I have more time and my own PC (I am at Rick's house - my boss in Canada, also was my boss in Zim - and he is very kindly letting me sit on his PC and email away)

If there is someone I may have forgotten please could you forward this on to them!

From me in Canada, this is Geoff signing off!

Love to all

P.S. If you do not want to receive these sort of emails or you have another address you would like to receive them at, please just email me and let me know.

The week before...

It's Tuesday, 8 days before I head off into the big wide wilderness of Canada. Things are pretty hectic, and this is where I would use my prioritisation skills (if I had some) to decide what is important to do and what is not important.

I went to Nyanga this weekend for 3 nights - the first two with Jim and Dog (Just nicknames - actually James and Matthew) and then we had Nicky, Barry and Michelle join us for the last night. It was really cold the first night and we had a power cut! Three guys trying to cook a pasta dish over a fire in the lounge! It worked and was pretty tasty in the end - but not an experience I would like to repeat by choice!

We played a round of golf at Troutbeck - and well thats all I am going to say as I have tried to block that out of my memory! We also visited Worlds View which is even more spectacular than I remember it to be.

All in all I loved it, the scenery and the places, but above all it was really good to be able to spend time with mates before I bugger off!

That said I better get my list together and start trying to tick things off!

Work Permit

Finally! My work permit came through by DHL on Monday.

Things are now in full swing till I go. I have a long list of things to do, and I am trying to get through all of them asap so I can just relax for a bit before I head off!

My ticket is booked for 5 May, which is not all that far away, but gives me enough time (i hope).