Just before welcoming the new year

What a crazy year 2012 has been...  and here I am in Victoria, British Columbia enjoying the last days of the year...  Certainly something I would have never ever guessed at the beginning of the year.
So just a few more random impressions of my new neighborhood - and getting acquainted with the Canadian culture...

 So if more people at once come to visit than fit into my guest room - I am totally putting them up in the Robin Hood Motel.  Not cause of the cool name (of course not...), but because it is just at the end of my road.

 There are some Berlin moments out here too...  Whether it is the "communal gardens" above (looks a lot like Schrebergarten to me) or the under-the-bridge street art below (= Wall Graffiti) - feels a lot like home.

Some of the muddy trails...

 See...  I totally need to get a boat.

Only in Canada would you see people playing outdoor tennis on the last day of the year at just above freezing temperatures.  Though as my dear friend from Michigan pointed out: there is no snow and there is some sun - so they are good to go!

Christmas in Vancouver

Spending the holidays with friends makes it all so much... more festive!  Vancouver is just a quick ferry ride (at 1.5h not that quick actually) and drive away, so I gladly accepted Carolines invitation to spend a few days over christmas at her new home in Vancouver.  Her husband Zane actually had to work on christmas day which meant we got to celebrate Christmas the "German way": on Christmas Eve!  Yeah!  And Caroline had tons of presents for me - so it was a blast!

Starting to get a pro at this ferry business...

Caroline says: This house looks like Christmas threw up over here.  (And this wasnt even the house with the most lights.... didnt make it to be mentioned in the papers...)

Downtown Vancouver made me realise that I really live in a small town now.  Everything is bigger here, the streets, the houses, the stores...  (and I thought they say that everything is bigger in Texas - failing to have ever travelled to Texas - I am going to start calling Vancouver Texas)

The views and the water all around is amazing.  These are from just driving around a small part of Stanley Park.  For sure I will have to come back in the summer!!

And I did get to see more snow!!  Woohoo!!  We drove up a bit towards Whistler which apparently is just as great for hanging and people watching as it is for skiing in winter and hiking in summer.  I got this coat as a birthday present for myself and it proves to be perfect for rain and snow out here - and for dog walking!  Now that I have a coat with a hood finding an umbrella has dropped on the list of priority purchases...

For whatever reason a whole fleet of boats (yeah, I know...  they are tankers) was jsut hanging out in Vancouver harbour area.  They all seemed empty.  With the snow and forest and winter light it almost seemded like a game of battleship - or actual battleships ready to embark on their mission...

Yeah - snow!

The fun part about snow out here in Vancouver is that down in the valley it's actually not that cold.  And there actually is no snow (at least not while I was there).  Rather, when you look at the mountains and peaks around - there are five I believe - you see clearly where the snow level is.  Looks like someone took out a ruler and created a line - no snow below this line.

The beautiful Christmas tree with all the presents underneath!

The flan was my contribution to dinner!! :)

Opening presents, calling the parents - fun times at Christmas!

Probably the happiest (or most dedicated) to the presents was Scout.  He would not let go of that huge bone he got - even barked at himself when seeing his reflection in the window...

What my family back home had for Christmas Eve dinner: Schäufele.  Yummy!

Oh that is one big bird...  The turkey Caroline made for Christmas dinner was something like 6.8 kg for 5 adults and 1 baby.  Too much?  Nah!!  Plenty of leftovers for sandwiches, casseroles, and...  snacking...

Since my island has no Ikea and some stuff is fun and easy to get there - Caroline and I stopped off for my first North American Ikea experience.  Strangely enough some stuff is really really the same - then again some stuff is weirdly different or missing.  Like they dont have my favorite slippers.  Or lower sinks in the bathroom for the kids.  Or the cafeteria being a display case for Ikea furniture...  Or having an Ikea family card.  Strange strange strange...

The one thing that Ikea does have: Köttböllar!!  And they are just as...  "nice"...  as they are anywhere else!  Best of it all: the crunchy fries!

On the ferry ride back I just about missed the earlier ferry and had to wait for an hour for the next one.  Which wasnt all that bad since I got "stuck" right next to the market with bathrooms and a Starbucks.  AND I got to be bascially the first car on the ferry - and off it!
What a great way to spend Christmas days - THANKS Caroline and Zane and Scout!

Hatley Castle in winter times

Every now and then I get to go inside Hatley Castle for some meeting or other.  And there is always something new to discover as this house has plenty of rooms - many are used as offices, some are locked up and only showed during tours.  And yes, the best part of having a new employee orientation on Friday morning at 8.30 the day before Christmas break was indeed a tour of the castle.  Didnt take any pictures then - so you all have to come visit and see for yourself (tours are free for staff and their families).  

 The pink fireplace was one of the girls rooms.  The Dunsmuirs has 8 daughters - only two got to have pink fireplaces in their bedrooms...  The view is amazing too - but now it is just decoration for a meeting room...  Silke, ich weiß - genau so einen hätte Deine Villa auch!  Mindestens in JEDEM Zimmer... ;)

 As part of the Christmas staff sale at the gift shop they had a raffle - and I won!  Might have something to do with having the same first name as the shopkeeper - but who cares!  I got this keeping cold drinks cold bottle - which I guess comes in handy in the summer!  And all that for just buying a few postcards...

 The architect of Hatley Castle was given particular instructions that the huge fireplace is the first thing for people to see as they come in the door - to be wowed.  The fireplace is still used on a regular basis and apparently does nothing for warming up the house - but burns through wood like there is no tomorrow.  All part of the design and a symbol of the richest family in BC not having a care in the world about money.  At the time.
Similarly the other side of the entry hall was designed to host a huge christmas tree and actually a little balcony for the choir...  All amazingly beautiful and most bits and pieces you see are actually still original (that would be the windows and lamps and stuff - not the christmas decorations...)

 And this is what it looks like when it snows here.  A little dusting...  And it was all gone within the hour.  Not much really, but then again I was told that it NEVER really snows here in Victoria....

The days before Christmas in Victoria

Spending the holidays in a new country of course is always a new experience.  You never really know what to expect and what traditions from back home you will be missing...  or what new ones might be added....

 I was quite happy to find that Advent Calendars have indeed made it over here - and come with the regular 24 doors.  Ah, the christmas fun!!

 New christmas lights and my "old" Christmas decorations brought the festive spirit into my new home.  I do admit I felt intimidated by the decorations my neighbors put out - they do take Christmas seriously around here.... and now way I could keep up...

 So much fun making Christmas cookies (thanks for the recipe, Claudia!!) and my colleagues were very impressed and loved them.  Evne if they did mistake the Ampelmännchen for gingerbread man....

 Even if it seems not quite cold enough outside, I was super happy to find all ingredients for making Glühwein!!  Danke Nikolaus!  :)

 The Christmas tree at Hatley castle - sooo pretty!!  And no worries, there were about at least 5 more in the castle and another bunch in various corners of campus...

 The lights on "the Ledge" (that's what they call the Parliament or Legislative Building) kinda look like Christmas all year round.  However, for Christmas they exchange some of the lights to be red and green and add a few Christmas trees.  Makes the inner harbour look all nice and pretty and festive!  (Did I mention that they do take their Christmas lights really serious around here??!)

 Of course on 21 December I had to be out and about and see if the world would come to an end - which it did not.  But that was a great excuse to have a drink with a new friend out here.  And to enjoy some yummy Grimbergen, which made me (almost) feel like back home and remembering the good old Brussels' times.

 Trying out the fireplace for the first time proves that it works...  and looks great!  Just need to get some wood now...

Chocolate chip cookies dressed up with some Christmas spirit!!  I do admit that adding some red sugar to the dough didnt have the effect of making them sparkle...  Rather it turned the dough an odd shade of pink - which faded as I baked them.  But red sparkle on top worked awesome!  :)

Another year, another birthday

With a birthday in December I am very used to spending it at some Christmas party - or with only few people around.  So spending my birthday in a new country and few friends around was not really the most promising prospect.  But lucky me, having old friends move to the same corner of the world enabled me to spend a fun birthday weekend away just hanging out with a great friend.  I traveled to the neighboring state of Washington, geared up for snow (I have to admit I expected something like Berlin or Michigan - not just above freezing, mild climate and beautiful snow), enjoyed great food and one of the weirdest lighting concept at a Christmas party ever (who thought that orange was a great idea?), more yummy food, great people - and the amazing scenery around Washington and actually got to cross another US state off my list: Idaho.  Thanks for a great brithday weekend, Richard!

PS: As my iPhone is totally not US-phile and refuses to work out there apart from WiFi I did not get any text messages or phone calls any of you may have sent my way over my birthday weekend.  So I apologise if I did not say thank you (even the geeks at the Mac store had no solution or explanation, rather messed up my phone even more...) - I appreciate all birthday wishes and those of you who thought of me!

 These are just some impressions from along our hike and enjoying the snow.  There usually are some bald eagles flying around - we only spotted them as we drove back and couldnt really stop.  Amazing animals.

 There are only few houses along the shores here - which must be an amazing view!  But yes, probably very isolated from bascially everything. And in Idaho.

 I did get to borrow Trooper for parts of the hike.  What a fun dog - even if he ate all of my m&m's... (shame on me for leaving them within reach!)  Too bad he wouldn't fit into my carry-on luggage.