Page 2 of Part 5: My Life in Canada: January 2006 - December 2006!
January 2006 - December 2006
: The summer has been so beautiful and so warm! It was sunny for almost 3 full months with hardly any rain and temperatures of above 25 C and sometimes up to 35 C. We were able to go for many walks and enjoy the beautiful beaches around here as well as some walking in the nearby mountains. I also had a great opportunity when it comes to a couple of my photos. Quite a few months ago I received an e-mail from an educational company who wanted to use 2 of my photos from the my the Canadian Rocky Mountains that they had seen on the internet. They wanted to use them for an Atlas of Canada. I was not going to get paid for it, but my name would be mentioned in the photo credits and I would get a free copy sent to me once it was finished. I was honoured that somebody wanted to use my photos in a book! I couldn't believe it, maybe someday something else will come out of it? Anyway, I agreed to it and at the end of the summer I received my book with both photos in it and my name is mentioned in the front of the book. That is so cool. I have big time bragging rights now...haha! I think it's so great though that I can say now that I have my first pictures published in a book. Who knows I'll get more opportunities in the future with my photos. I am planning to buy a new digital camera that has lots of manual options for even better photos in the future. I really like photography and it's becoming more and more a passion!
In September we went to Harrison Hotsprings as I had never been there yet. The Sand Sculpture Championship was being held at the beach by Harrison Lake at this time, so that would be great to see. That was beautiful to see, some of these sculptures are just incredibly detailed. There was also a Belgian team and they had a beautiful sculpture. It was amazing to see and there were still quite some sculptures in process. It's really neat to see how they create something like that and so detailed.
A few photos of those beautiful sand sculptures!
After looking around and contemplating a lot I finally decided which kind of new digital camera I wanted. I really wanted something with lots of manual options, but I didn't want to take the big leap to a DSLR because I am not too sure what kind of lenses I would want. I bought a prosumer camera or one of those super zooms as they call it or an "SLR like" camrea. It's a Sony DSC-H5 with 7.2 megapixels which is a camera with a super zoom lens and lots of manual options which I had been craving for for a long time! I love all the features on the camera which allow me to create some photos with neat effects and just be more creative when it comes to taking photos. I have been practicing in front of our living room window and taken some sunset photos as well as some photos of the city buildings.
Michael and I have also been to Vancouver and Burnaby Mountain to capture some more interesting shots while enjoying a walk. I really love going out around here and capture all the beautiful places around Vancouver and where we live on photo. It is so much fun and the more I practice, the better my photos will get, I hope! In the meantime I also bought a polarizing filter for my camera which I hadn't been able to use very much in the fall yet as it's ideal to use when there is blue sky. I have been able to capture some wonderful shots from our living room window, it's great to practice for nightshots and sunset shots. This way I can really play around and learn more about my manual settings. I am really starting to enjoy it a lot. I wish I would have know my camera a bit better when we were in the Canadian Rockies, but the scenery was there already...so that helped a lot. I just got my camera before we left and once we were in the Rockies I didn't feel like reading the manual and all that...hehe! Anyway, I get lots of practice at home and I am sure we will return to the Canadian Rockies at some point. We get the sunsets right in front of our window in the winter time, so it was an ideal time to practice. I really like the effects of the buildings lit up and a beautiful sunset sky above it all. Further nothing much has been happening, I still keep in touch with my mom once to twice a week and it's really great to talk to her. It's good to hear that she's doing good most of the time, but somedays are harder than others. I can only imagine after being with someone for over 40 years and being somewhat dependent on them and all of a sudden you are alone. I think the weekends are the hardest because most people are out and about with their own families and don't have much time for my mom, but usually she gets over these sadder days. I am also waiting to hear from the Registered Nurses Association to finally do a refresher course to get the highest title in nursing. I had to do another English exam which I passed no problem, so now I am waiting for the next step to in this process. We'll see what happens!
Some photos from taken from our livingroom & Burnaby Mountain
The weather has been a little crazy in the fall this year. We had our first snow fall already on November 25, 2006 which delivered about 50cm (20 inches) of snow.. This is quite unusual for this time of the year for Vancouver. We have had snow this early before, but not that much. Everything looked very beautiful that's for sure, but it wasn't fun to get around by car with all the hills over here...one day I even had to take a taxi to work as I couldn't get my car out of our back alley...too slippery. It really was cold as well and we had temperatures around -10 C for about a week, but it was sunny which makes it really nice. The snow disappeared in about 2 and a half weeks and then it got warmer and the rain kicked in again at times as well. The snow kept on falling on the mountains, while we got the rain down here, so for the local mountains it was great and they opened early for the ski season. Michael and I also went to see our local Vancouver Canucks (hockey) on November 28, 2006 where we watched the Vancouver Canucks win 1-0 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. It was a fun evening and the game was great. Michael got some free tickets from somebody at work, so it was really worth going. We were sitting in the 4th row, which are fantastic seats so we were able to see everything so close.
In the beginning of December I finally heard something from the Nurses Association and I registered for an online course which I can do at home and I will start in January 2007. I am happy to start that again and hope to finish this online course in about a year. Christmas came around quickly and we spend Christmas Day at Michael's parents place. We had a wonderful dinner and a wonderful time! December 26 is a fun day over here and is called "Boxing Day" in Canada, to most people that means it is a big day to go shopping! On this day everything in most stores is 50% off or even more. Certain stores have great specials and sell things at a really cheap price on this day only. Usually there are great deals on electronics, clothes, shoes, perfumes, jewelry and so much more. We went to a big store (Wal-Mart) where they sell electronics, clothing, groceries and other things. The store was going to open at 7.00 in the morning. Michael and I got up early so we would be able to get the things we wanted to get. Unbelievable but we were standing in the line up at 6.45am...haha! There were at least about 50 people waiting ahead of us already. We did get the things we wanted to get such as a pack of 100 recordable DVD's for about $17.00 CAD (12.00 euro), the first 3 seasons of the "X-Files" on DVD which was $17.50 CAD (12.50 euro) per season, we also bought some soap at a very cheap price, some crackers and other stuff. It was a fun day of shopping. In the evening we had Michael's parents over for dinner which was really nice. We had a great time which is always so nice. We both took time off until after New Year, so we were able to enjoy our time together to the fullest! It's so great to be off together for a little while and just do the things we like to do.
Some photos from the Canuck game, the snow fall and views from our place.
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