Canadia Calling 2
Dear Team, don't panic. Tis only me with a brief update from Canadiaville. What can I say? Well, for a start, CSU Burlington opened its doors today (see attached photo of new students chosen completely at random from the many that I took).
The day seemed to go well; the word 'excited' got a real work out throughout the day, so much so that I was expecting Big Kev to show up at any moment. The facility looks a picture and the students (and staff) are being very well looked after. BTW, my phone number at CSU Burlington is 905-333-4955 (mobile 905 407 4955) for those with enough time on their hands to ring a poor little aussie battler, miles from home and family and no-one except a hundred quintrillion Nth Americans to talk to. Bloody hell, these Canadians can breed! I was travelling through the Southern Ontario country side the other day and rolled into a little dot on the map only to find 50,000 cannucks live there! This is one thing you cannot help notice; the sheer density of population.
My day trip on the weekend included a visit to Lake Huron (one of these bloody big lakes that Canads keeping banging on about!). It's big. I mean big. It looks like the ocean, that's how goddamn big it is. Anyway, managed to bump into a number of people from what I later worked out to be the Canadian Mennonites. Mennonites, I have since discovered, are like Amish, in fact basically the same except the blokes don't seem to have the big beard thing going on like the Amish. The women wear these little white bonnets and, like the daughters, have the big, long puffy sleeved kinda-gingham check dresses (yes, I know, superbly described).
I also went past a number of their horse drawn buggies (just like attached photos, although I didn't take these. I actually nicked them off the web when trying to work out who they were! The buggies I saw did have the little hazard signs on the back though which, for mine, somewhat spoils the look). The buggies I drove past were obviously off to sunday church, dressed in gorgeous black clobber, right down to the lace up boots. In fact, how cool would it be being a Mennonite? Lots of black (always fashionable) and no mobile phones. Ok, so you probably could never listen to music more recent than about 1780 and you'd have to give up grog and coffee, 
but think how fit you'd get scything wheat (blokes) and knocking up cakes and bread (chicks).
On a decidely more contemporary note, I went to my first game of Canadian football last week with Tom Lowrie and Phil Sefton. We went to see the Hamilton Tiger Cats who, to that point, were 0 and 8 (no wins, 8 losses for those not up with Nth American sports lingo). Hamilton is the neighbouring steel city and is apparently the 5th poorest city in Canada. I'd hate to see the poorest 4! 15 minutes and a universe away from leafy Burlington. I'm told that the Ti-cats (as we died-in-the wool supporters call them) are the most well supported team in the league despite their lowly position. The Hamiltonites (25,000 of them) certainly made a big night of it. As for the game, Canadian football is just like the American caper except with a few rule changes and less players. The final score was Hamilton Tiger Cats 41, Winnipeg Blue Bombers 39. Yes, we lifted our boys to their first win of the season (see attached photo of jubilant Ti-Cat faithful). However, I'm afraid the rest is up to them because the incessant advertsing (the game is really a side light to the adverising) is way beyond what one little aussie battler could stand more than once; that and the game being only slightly more interesting than potato peeling. Never was there a sport more made to be watched on television.
Any hoo, I have a subject outline to finish and a nation to educate.
Love yous all.
MG
The day seemed to go well; the word 'excited' got a real work out throughout the day, so much so that I was expecting Big Kev to show up at any moment. The facility looks a picture and the students (and staff) are being very well looked after. BTW, my phone number at CSU Burlington is 905-333-4955 (mobile 905 407 4955) for those with enough time on their hands to ring a poor little aussie battler, miles from home and family and no-one except a hundred quintrillion Nth Americans to talk to. Bloody hell, these Canadians can breed! I was travelling through the Southern Ontario country side the other day and rolled into a little dot on the map only to find 50,000 cannucks live there! This is one thing you cannot help notice; the sheer density of population.
My day trip on the weekend included a visit to Lake Huron (one of these bloody big lakes that Canads keeping banging on about!). It's big. I mean big. It looks like the ocean, that's how goddamn big it is. Anyway, managed to bump into a number of people from what I later worked out to be the Canadian Mennonites. Mennonites, I have since discovered, are like Amish, in fact basically the same except the blokes don't seem to have the big beard thing going on like the Amish. The women wear these little white bonnets and, like the daughters, have the big, long puffy sleeved kinda-gingham check dresses (yes, I know, superbly described).
I also went past a number of their horse drawn buggies (just like attached photos, although I didn't take these. I actually nicked them off the web when trying to work out who they were! The buggies I saw did have the little hazard signs on the back though which, for mine, somewhat spoils the look). The buggies I drove past were obviously off to sunday church, dressed in gorgeous black clobber, right down to the lace up boots. In fact, how cool would it be being a Mennonite? Lots of black (always fashionable) and no mobile phones. Ok, so you probably could never listen to music more recent than about 1780 and you'd have to give up grog and coffee, 
but think how fit you'd get scything wheat (blokes) and knocking up cakes and bread (chicks).On a decidely more contemporary note, I went to my first game of Canadian football last week with Tom Lowrie and Phil Sefton. We went to see the Hamilton Tiger Cats who, to that point, were 0 and 8 (no wins, 8 losses for those not up with Nth American sports lingo). Hamilton is the neighbouring steel city and is apparently the 5th poorest city in Canada. I'd hate to see the poorest 4! 15 minutes and a universe away from leafy Burlington. I'm told that the Ti-cats (as we died-in-the wool supporters call them) are the most well supported team in the league despite their lowly position. The Hamiltonites (25,000 of them) certainly made a big night of it. As for the game, Canadian football is just like the American caper except with a few rule changes and less players. The final score was Hamilton Tiger Cats 41, Winnipeg Blue Bombers 39. Yes, we lifted our boys to their first win of the season (see attached photo of jubilant Ti-Cat faithful). However, I'm afraid the rest is up to them because the incessant advertsing (the game is really a side light to the adverising) is way beyond what one little aussie battler could stand more than once; that and the game being only slightly more interesting than potato peeling. Never was there a sport more made to be watched on television.
Any hoo, I have a subject outline to finish and a nation to educate.
Love yous all.
MG
posted by MG at 8:21 PM
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