What is dis exotic ting...

...A day with NO SCHEDULE?!? Unheard of.

Anyways, I woke up around 9:30 (wow, that's late) and went to a church down the road at 11. It was pleasantly similar to City Heights, but with a little more flag flying (The kids do it there, which is pretty sweet) and for one song the congregation was filled with beachballs flying through the air! I didn't get pelted in the head at all although I did some pelting of my own... :)

So this church also has a bit of 'ministry time' at the end of the service for stuff like healing/prophecy which was pretty cool. I think some of the YWAM guys might have been freaked out a little, just because of different church backgrounds. But it was quite an enjoyable service.

Then, for a change of pace, I STAYED IN. This was a pleasant afternoon. For the most part I packed all my stuff again because the guys staying here are moving into a new apartment closer to all of the other YWAMers, but which is also further away from the YWAM base than where I'm at now. Oh well.

Then in the evening, me and Dare (Sam was out, it was his birthday today) went on a bit of a Youtube binge. We ended up watching a ton of comedy ranging from Monty Python to Seinfeld. "Here's to feeling good all the time"... So then when Sam came back, we talked and hung out for a long time, and have now all retreated to bed.

That's about it. Until next time,
Arrivederci.

Ladies and Gentlemen Children of all ages, I give you Bushed.

today was probably the least and most busy day here so far. It wasn't busy because we had no class. However it WAS busy because...

...I started off waking up at 7:30 and doing my normal waking up stuff. Then me and my hockey roommate (named Dare by the way) walked over to the YWAM base to go and pick up all of the other hockey guys a few blocks away. Once we picked them up , we all drove together to Stanley Park (Vancouver's equivalent to say, Point Pleasant Park in Halifax... But 10 times bigger) and ran about a third of it and back... If you're really interested in specifics, it was from the second beach/pool to a litthe further than the 'girl in a wetsuit' (it all makes sense on the map: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/StanleyAerial_Labelled.jpg )

So that took up the morning. Then I came back to my place had some lunch and had to get back to the base again for 1 o'clock to go on a 'city excursion'... Which was essentially a scavenger hunt sending us all around downtown Vancouver. I'll try to get the order or where we went as accurate as possible:

1) we started off near the waterfront, got a map and went to a skytrain station (it's like a monorail all through the area) to see what the rates were.

2) We went to the "Gastown" section of Vancouver, which had a 'steam clock' which was pretty interesting.

3) We then went to Vancouver's own "Chinatown" which is the largest in Canada and the fourth largest in North America (behind New York, Flushing NY and San Francisco) where we had to bring back a 'souvenir'... We brought back a pair of geckos which apparently are excellent ingredients in tea for asthmatics.

4) Next, we walked to the 'sporting region' of Vancouver, the blocks which have BC Place, a football stadium for the BC Lions in the CFL and right next door is GM Place, the home of the Vancouver Canucks.

5) We then went to the Vancouver Public Library which was closed due to a strike of the city workers in Vancouver. It is a massive place, it's got 5 floors of books and 2 floors of office space.

6) We also went to see a local hostel just in case anyone wanted to drop in for a night or something...

7) We then went on Robson street (kind of like Spring Garden Road) where we went to one of at least three Starbucks to do some ridiculous task to get another clue... The task ended up being walking around the block without shoes/socks on.

8) After that we went to the Vancouver art gallery where they had just set up a "Vancouver 2010 Countdown Clock) so we went and checked that out.

9) THEN We went back to the waterfront again to Canada Place to see what the IMAX theatre there was like.

10) We then went back to the waterfront skytrain station and boarded to go to the leader of YWAM Vancouver's house (the guys name is Mark Davenport, by the way) to have some dinner.

11) Finally we all left his house, took a skytrain back to Commercial drive where I took a bus to here.

That was my day. I am bushed.

Arrivederci.

Back in the Groove

Oh yeah, today was fun.

We finished watching that message that I talked about yesterday, and did a lot of classy stuff. It's still orientation week so we're still just getting to know the ins and outs of how everything works here.

We did however have our second ice time so far (which I forgot to mention is in the same complex of rinks that the Vancouver Canucks practice on, just a cool fact) and I did a heck of a lot better than yesterday. That's why the name for today is 'Back in the Groove" because it felt like I was for a moment or two. So yeah, we also had a lot of the evening off, which is also a bit of a bonus. So I think I'll get to work on a couple of things tonight.

So to get to work on those things, I can't be on this thing, so...

Until Next time,
Arrivederci.

School's in session, son.

So this was the first actually Class-ish day at YWAM, we spent a fair bit of it watching a message called "The roots and fruits of Pride" by Floyd McClung, it's quite a god message so far. That's ,ost of what happened during the school portion of the day.

We also had "Community time" which is essentially mandatory fun. It was themed "Canada" so we had stuff from Alberta because that's where the cooks are from and then we had a bit of a quiz. My team the "Shoelace Extravaganza" lost, but it was close. We also shared in some exclusively Canadian snacks like Timbits, Ketchup chips and Smarties.

So that was the bulk of noteworthy events today.

Until next time,
Arrivederci.

And it shall be scholastic...

Day one of YWAM, oh yeah! This was the day that all of those pesky things like rules and such nonsense... Nah I'm kidding that stuff is pretty important. We also got to hear about the history of YWAM all it's ups and downs, lefts and rights, and every other direction physically possible. Today also marked the first day that a meal was served in the new building, which is a pretty huge thing.

It was also the first time the YWAM hockey crew hit the ice. All I can say is you could tell it's been a while since hockey season. Everyone had a little rust, and I felt like I had a lot. But I'm not worried, I've got a few months to get into form.

Today also featured a corker of a worship service. No it was not filed with the most elaborate instruments, or the strongest or most beautiful voice, it was simply simple. Each person had their own way to find God and hear from Him, and it was pretty sweet. We also prayed over a guy who screwed up his knee today, and by the end of the service he could put weight on it for the first time since he hurt it.

So that's what happened today.
Until next time,
Arrivederci.

Let the games begin...

So the official beginning of the DTS was this afternoon. It was the first time that every student was in the same place at the same time, but it most certainly won't be the last.

After breaking the ice, we all went to a Vietnamese restaurant on "The Drive" (that is what Commercial Drive is known as) called "Mekong" or something like that. Although far Eastern food is by no means my cup of tea, it was a pleasant surprise. So that was a good time, both eating new food and meeting new friends.

Afterwards we all returned to the base to get our scholastic stuff (and there is quite a lot there) and returned to our sleeping quarters for the night.

I finally got to meet my two roommates for the next few months, and I like 'em already. There is a guy named Dare who is from Calgary and the other guy is named Sam and he is from Germany. Much to my liking he lives in a little village just south of Munich, and I like Munich quite a lot.

So things will be picking up quite a bit in the next few days, so I'll probably not update as frequently as I have been.

But until next time,
Arrivederci.

Mattina Italiana

I thourouhly enjoyed this morning. I woke up pretty early, about 7:30 or so, watched me Sportscentre, and then took a little walk down Commercial drive.

Commercial drive is like Vancouver's Little Italy, and if you know me, you know I have a thing for Italy. So I went into a café which I think was called "Caffé Amici"or something like that, had a croissant, and just watched. There was a couple guys having a conversation in Italian added some effect.

So I had a pleasant morning, just walking and soaking in Vancouver.

Until next time,
Arrivederci.

It's pretty suite here

Alright, so I've met quite a few YWAMers so far, and I'm sure it'll be a good time already. We went to a couple's house tonight and indulged in some fine eats. The food was swell, and everyone had a chance to meet and get to know each other which is certainly an important thing, since everyone is in an unfamiliar spot.

After supper, I've discovered that I have been blessed with one more night by my lonesome. YWAM either rented out or got their hands on a couple of suites in a hotel near the YWAM base, and my roommates aren't coming until tomorrow so for tonight I have a 2-bedroom suite, kitchen living room and all, to myself. It's great to have one more night of solitude, but I rightly feel a bit spoiled. Oh well, I'll be fine :)

So until tomorrow,
Arrivederci.

I'm in a hospital...

...Scared you? The YWAM headquarters in Vancouver are in an old hospital so technically, I'm in a hospital. It's surprisingly nice for an ex-hospital, not even a gross medical facility smell. There's a fair bit of people from a fair bit of places... I heard there will be folks from Illinois, Germany, there's a couple of Australian accents and a guy from Ireland.

I can safely say now that I officially have everything I need for the Vancouver portion or this trip. I bought a new goalie stick today and it should last at least a couple of months, but considering my recent misfortunes with Sher-wood sticks, that might be optimistic.

So me and dad went to get to know downtown Vancouver, that was quite fun. Much to my.pleasure, I found a few soccer stores around here :)

Anyways, me and dad started out walking around Robson square, and then we strolled down to the waterfront, hung out there for a while right around Canada place, and then took a skytrain (it's basically a monorail) and a bus back to the base, and now I'm typing this, that's my day.

Until next time,
Arrivederci.

(I guess that's like an official sign-off, like Cronkite's "That's the way it was")

It's so... Pacific

Alrighty, one day, two flights and three timezones later and we're here. The first flight was dandy, wasn't too long, just to Toronto but the second one was a little more bothersome. Although I did get to watch soccer on each flight, that was kinda fun.

We stayed last night with friends of my dad who have a nice place about half an hour from where I'll be staying for the rest of the party, so I can always run away if necessary... They took us out for some Indian dining last night... Considering the fact that that meal has kept me quiet on the hunger front for almost 20 hours, it was really good.

So today we'll be moving a lot of crap from this lovely little abode to my probably not-as-lovely abode (which I hear is in a bit of a rough part of town) and looking around at everything. Should be a cracking time.

So until tomorrow,
Arrivederci.