March: Finally the month I got to see the workings of a Canadian hospital

Did I honestly last update you in February? Well that just shows how crazy busy March has been! The first thing which really happened in March was Chris' birthday, so me, Steph and Hannah all headed downtown to the Rhino for a few drinks and a dance. It was a great night, not least because the barman gave me my orange juice for free (no alcohol for lent!)

On the 7th of March, William Lane Craig came to talk at Calgary uni about "Is the Physical World All There Is?" Not only was it a great speech but it was so encouraging seeing so many people turn out and people seeming open to hearing about God and how the existence of God is fully logical.

The Friday of that week had a games night with loads of the people from work. Was so lovely, and discovered an interesting version of Articulate which has a fun little machine with buttons and stuff! Very over exciting and fun. Also once more, Randall turned out to be evil in Werewolves and Villagers! She has been tainted for life, but we still all love her anyway!

That weekend we went skiing. It was an early start but started to get excited as saw the mountains. Had some gorgeous runs and even got Claire and Phil down a black without any broken bones. However unfortunately our luck on no injuries was not to last as Claire had a "high speed fall" (medical terminology!) and ended up going first to the doctors at the bottom of the slope, before being left with me and Steph and instructions to get her to hospital. Now you may think this would be a relatively easy task, however while the gondola ride down to the carpark was fine (if a little bit squished), lifting her from her wheelchair into the taxi without bending or hitting her damaged leg was a wee bit harder. Once at the hospital we waited around for a long time and amused ourselves and unfortunately were once again tempting fate by saying that we didn't think it was broken and was probably just a sprained knee or something. Turns out she'd fractured her tibia at the top and needed surgery. Oops! At least we got a ride back with Claire's friend Dev's parents rather than a $200 taxi to Calgary - it's the small things in life!

Spent the next few days in a blur of hospital visits and studying. Luckily the hospital is super close to campus and we could get a bus so that was easy. Claire had her surgery on the Monday and got out later that week. We had a curry and watched Bring it On to celebrate. It was beautiful. She has 24 staples in her leg, plus multiple pins and plates, very exciting and she now gets to be one of the people who sets off airport security machines, what a perk eh!

That Friday had a coffee with Jeff, was supposed to do some studying but epically failed at that. Showed him the TFDL (library) and he concluded it was much better than Mount Royal (another uni in Calgary)'s library. WIN. Then pushed Claire in her fancy wheelchair to see a prof who didn't seem to quite believe that she had injured herself until Claire was actually in front of her. It was a bit of an adventure, but we worked out the step free access route, and there is a little elevator which we're pretty sure only Claire uses, therefore it's exclusively hers.

The weekend was pretty much fully work and studying, however did go out with a few work people after work on Friday which was really nice, plus managers bought me dinner on Wed, Fri and Saturday: my job is infinitely more awesome than yours! Went to see 'Oz the Great and Powerful' on Tuesday, which was okay, but definitely not a film I'd go to see again. On Thursday I cooked for Jeff which was really lovely, not least because it gave me an excuse to cook chocolate and raspberry brownies (I'm not sure I really need an excuse, but it's good to have one anyway!) Then Friday bought around the IVCF (Christian group)'s Games Night...but not just any Games Night...Japanese Games Show Night. Now if you haven't seen any Japanese Game Show, they are crazy and insane and ridiculous but also hilarious, and the night definitely followed suit. After some amazingly well spiced chicken the games began: blindfolded musical chairs, who can lick most ritz cheese crackers off a window in 30 seconds and silent library... All had moments where you worried about the health and safety risks but were definitely great fun, and not least because my team won. Then we had a quick game of Dutch Blitz, me and Victoria nearly beat Taylor and Lucas (which is very impressive) before I headed home for some much needed sleep.

I think that's you all up to date now, feel free to prod me if I don't update soon enough please!!

Chris' birthday celebrations

I love the nutters I work with

Claire and Steph, both excited to see the Canadian medical system in action...

Post work night out

Getting ready for blindfolded musical chairs

This is just Victoria's normal look!

One month in...

In under 24 hours I will have successfully made it through a month in Canada! It's odd to think that those who are just here for a term have already done 4 weeks out of 13...not a thought I'd want to be facing...there's so much more I want to do! But as I sit here writing this really I'm just procrastinating from the assignments that seem to be constantly looming over me at the minute! It really is true what people tell you, your year abroad is not a doss year and actually if you come to Canada your workload will greatly increase! However that's not to say I haven't done lots of things this week...the work ethic over here really does seem to be to work hard so that you can play hard so that's what we've been doing...when in Calgary and all that jazz!

On Tuesday we had our first flatmate meal, the student essential of pasta with tomato sauce! Very good however and nice to all sit down together for a meal. On Wednesday me and some of the British girls had pancakes...being Canadian and all that we tried Maple Syrup but as we'd bought the cheap version it really didn't taste great and I switched back to lemon and sugar pretty swiftly! 

Now, last blog I totally left you on a cliffhanger as to why I had bought cowboy boots...well apart from their insane comfort and awesome fashion points we went to Ranchmans a proper cowboy bar on Thursday night! Got a party bus down there, realised we actually quite enjoyed the country music, attempted to copy people and do some line dancing (unlike at ceilidh's there's no caller) and rode a mechanical bull! All in all a great night! Then walked to the C-train stop to catch last train home, which worryingly was running 15 minutes late and made us all rather nervous that we've missed it! But saved us taxi fare so that's good.

On Friday it was the ski club toga party so we got our togas on and partied it up! There were interesting ranges of togas including some really nice spotty bed sheets which I would not risk taking into the Den because they would never come out the same again!

Saturday saw us head downtown for a meal out on 17th Ave. Found a lovely pub called the Ship and Anchor which served amazing burgers at cheap prices. It was nice sitting outside and soaking up some more sunshine! 17th Ave is just amazing, so many good places to eat so will definitely be heading back there! Then walked to the Saddledome in order to see our first hockey (I'm talking ice hockey) game. Now normally the Calgary Flames are the team who play in the Saddledome but the NHL is on lockout at the minute so no NHL games unless they sort stuff out. Instead we saw the Calgary Hitmen play the Red Deer Rebels as part of the WHL (Western Hockey League). Unlike the American Football where I had no idea what was going on I actually understood it and properly enjoyed it! Even though we lost 3-2 on overtime it was a great game with fantastic atmosphere and a lot less stopping and starting than the football! Shall definitely be going back to watch other games as it was great fun!

Had first bible study this week and it was a really nice cosy wee group, then IVCF (the Christian group) also cooked us free dinner tonight which was greatly appreciated! Also have said "eh"in conversation for the first time so really feel like I'm pretty fully settled in now! Very glad I decided to come on a year abroad, and super happy I ended up in Calgary! Anyway, that's enough procrastination for me, I should get back to my assignments now! Probably update you in a week's time again!

Pancake and maple syrup

Everyone wants to be a cowgirl really!

TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!

Ice spray at the hockey game

Intense hockey players!