Annette's blog: Annette meets the outback

So after my last blog update I didn't go to bed. Who was I kidding? I got to my room and realized that it was the last time I could see a sunset in Vancouver. So my body was a little tired...it would get over it.

I jumped on my bike again and raced back to Stanley park. When I got to Stanley park I thought I knew where I was going, but I clearly didn't. I got a tiny bit lost, but didn't see any bears, so it was all good! After 30 minutes I did end up finding a place where I could get some chips and watch part of an amazing sunset. However, I did had to ride my bike back to the hostel and didn't have a light, so I thought I better be good and ride back before it got to dark.

When I came back to the hostel my bag still wasn't there! *sigh*

Friday was my last day in Vancouver :(
I got up on time and went to the front desk.....MY BAG HAD ARRIVED.
I was a bit disappointed cause it meant that I had to take it to Edmonton! I dropped of my bike at the shop, checked out at the hostel, left my bag behind for the day and took the bus to the museum of anthropology which is on the campus of the university of British Colombia. When I got on the bus I realized I had to pay with coins, but only had paper money. The bus driver told me to take a seat anyway.
And just my luck...at the next stop the security guys came on the bus to check everybody's tickets! I explained the situation and the security Vancouvernite told me that I could get off the bus, buy a ticket and take the next bus 10 minutes later. After I did that he came up to me and apologized for kicking me off the bus and explained that he was just doing his job. Are you kidding me?? I was already thankful he didn't just give me a fine! Vancouvernites are the best!!

I stayed at the museum of anthropology for about 3,5 hours. It was extremely interesting and they had a lot of items from the first nations. I also bought my first souvenir here...a book.
I couldn't help myself! It is a book about the history of the first nations, so it should be very interesting!
I wanted to stay longer at the museum, but it was time to go back to the hostel to pick up my bag and go to the VIA rail train station.
Before I picked up my bag I had a little stroll in the area my hostel was in and walked through an area called Gastown. It is really cute, but I really had to get to the train station.

I got to the station WAY to early, but there was a nice park in front of the station and the sun was out...so it really wasn't bad!

I did however find that nearly everywhere I have been there were beggars. The thing was, I didn't actually mind it to much, because they were extremely polite! They would come up to me and ask me for money. However, as soon as I said no, they would respond with: Ok, I'm so sorry to bother you miss and they would move on.
However, this did make me think. Although I know that a lot of people will use the money in a wrong way, I think it is to easy to just shrug them off and keep walking. From now on i might just take a few apples with me everywhere I go, just so I have something to give to them. It might even give me the opportunity to start a conversation with them. They might refuse, they might just take the apple and walk away or they might be willing to have a conversation. It doesn't really matter.
I just think that the society we live in today has become to hard towards people who really need help. And I know, a lot of people have made a lot of bad decisions in their lives and that is why they are in the place that they are in at the moment, but who is to say that I wouldn't have made exactly the same decisions if I were to be in their shoes. It just makes me so thankful for all the blessings I have in my life. Now the trick is to make sure that those blessings don't make me passive towards my neighbor. That would actually turn blessings into curses.
That was the little thought process I had while I was waiting for the train.

So...I boarded the train and we left at 8.30pm. Good bye Vancouver!
By the time we actually left Vancouver it was dark and nearly time to try and get some sleep. The chairs were extremely comfy, but I only managed to sleep from 3am till 5am.
Wow, what a way to wake up! We were surrounded by mountains! It was AMAZING!!!
If anyone is thinking about taking the train from Vancouver to Edmonton, DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!
I was on the train for the next 25 hours. To cut a long story short: I had THE BEST views, read my book, took photos, talked to an Belgium guy who lived in Montreal, talked to a retired teacher who lived on Vancouver Island, talked for 5 hours to a 24yo christian girl who is a med student and had just spend 4 weeks in India, learned 3 new games, made friends with 5 different kids, managed to walk through Jaspers for an hour and saw my first black bear!
I had an amazing time and was a bit said to leave the train once I got to Edmonton.

However....Kym was there!!!!!
I arrived in Edmonton on Saturday at 11pm. Kym and Justin were there to pick me up. It was so good to finally see Kym again...oh and Justin! :)
We drove to Barrhead, which took about an hour and 10 minutes. We (I) talked all the way and it only felt like 15 minutes! We (I) had so much to talk about!
Once we got to Kym's place in Barrhead I could finally go to bed!!

This morning Justin picked Kym and I up for church.
We had to drive for 20 minutes to get to Neerlandia. I've been trying to figure out where all the members of the congregation came from, I'm pretty sure they just come out of the ground or something. Neerlandia is tiny!

Both services we had rev Louwers, but I haven't managed to talk to him yet. I have promised people from Armadale to talk to him and tell him how great Armadale is...don't worry, I haven't forgotten!

After the morning service we went to Justin's mum's house where I met a few of Justin's family members and of course Kym's parents.
We played scrabble. I'm pretty sure that was the first time I played english scrabble and I actually won! That had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Kym helped me pretty much every step of the way! ;)
After the second service Kym, Justin, Kym's parents and I went to Justin's dad's place. Justin's dad is married to an Italian woman and O lala!!!! Did we have an amazing dinner!!!! I ate waaaay to much but that's cause it was waaaay to good!

Later in the night we went back to Justin's mum's house and played a game of cribbage. That is one of the games Leah (the girl on the train) taught me how to play.

Now I am back at Kym's place, it is midnight and I am exhausted!

Tomorrow we are going to the Edmonton mall to buy bridesmaids shoes and get our nails done. At night we will have Kym's bridal shower. On tuesday we hope to go to one of the lakes.

During the week more aussies will be arriving and by the time it is friday there will be 11 aussies here. (excluding the many that already live here) It will be Kym's parents, Kym's oma, Kym's brother, 2 of Kym's aunties with their husbands, Micheal and Jess (friends) and me.

Thats's all for now...there is HEAPS more to say, but it will have to wait until you see me face to face!

I will try and add some photo's to this blog and to my last blog. Although not tonight. Kym has one of these amazing macs (grrrrrr) and I can't find the place to stick my memory card in! It is telling me that it is 00.18 and I'm pretty sure that Kym will not appreciate it if I wake her up!
So it will have to wait, but I will come later!

Good night!