Whitewater Rafting

On Saturday my Church had a ward trip - rafting - at Kimball which is just south of Cardston so about an hour south of Lethbridge. I'd never been before so was very excited! There were about 6 rafts in total, with 6-10 of us in each raft and some people were kayaking as well. You can see me at the beginning of the trip looking nice and dry - that didn't last very long at all. The river we went down was quite tame so we didn't have any problems other than getting stuck on a huge rock at the beginning and all having to go to the front of the raft and jump up & down to get off it! We also jumped out and swam in some of the places along the river and were able to body surf one of the rapids which was fun. It was really hot that day so it was good to keep cool in the water. We were on the river for about 2 hours and the time went by really fast as we were having such a good time. At the end we also had a barbecue with hotdogs while we all dried out in the sunshine.

Library Breakfast

I finally met all of the library staff yesterday when we had a "North American" style breakfast all together. There are more library staff than at Burton College, but the Library is also responsible for the Computer Commons which is similar to the rest of the LRC in Burton. The main difference is that here they have librarians, reference, circulation and shelving staff and also student proctors in the commons who support the use of IT there - I'll be especially interested to see how they work as that's a new idea to me.
It was really good to meet all the staff, some are term-time only so I won't meet them again until the end of August. Our breakfast consisted of bacon, sausages, pancakes, maple syrup (for the 1st time whilst I've been in Canada), Rogers Golden Syrup (local stuff), peaches, blueberries, jam, cream and orange & apple juice - yum, yum!

Tim Hortons

Tim Hortons is a Canadian Fast Food Outlet. Set up as serving just coffee & donuts (though there's a few other things on the menu - the hot chocolate is good & I think it may do some sandwiches, etc) the menu isn't as expansive as other fast food places, but it's good. It's the one "Canadian" experience everyone has told me to go for and it's really, really popular here - I've seen about 5 in Lethbridge. They have a wide variety of donuts and you can always pretend you're being good by having just "Timbits" which are small donut pieces - a bit like donut profiteroles - which come in lots of different flavours. The nearest Tims is a 10-15 minute walk from my flat so I can convince myself that I've walked off all the fat they contain. Won't make the mistake of buying a box of 10 again on the basis that I'll have just a few each day though, they taste far too good for that!!!

Waterton Pt 2

(SEE BELOW FOR PART 1)
The hike was really interesting as we learnt all about the area, the nature (I ate wild huckleberries - never knew they existed before) and how Canada & the US work together to preserve the site. We also heard how they've worked together on some pretty dramatic rescues in the area.
As you can see on the left, the border is clearly marked with both the commemorative pillar and the cutting through the trees which goes right across the park - you couldn't miss it. Fortunately, since we were only going along the lake then straight back into Canada, there was no passport control in the middle of the woods - so didn't need my passport & visa! Once we arrived at Goat Haunt we took the ferry back along the lake. The suspension bridge I am crossing in the photo above was at the end of the hike, where the stream feeds into the lake - you could only cross it one person at a time.
Once we arrived at Goat Haunt it was a 35 minute journey in the ferry back up the lake. We started the hike at 10am & arrived at Waterton Townsite at 6pm; mildly sunburnt - but no blisters, very tired, but very happy as it had been a really good day out. I slept extremely well on Saturday night!!!!

Waterton

On Saturday I went to Waterton Lakes National Park which is 81 miles south from Lethbridge. The park borders with Glacier National Park in Montana and together form the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park and was the first Peace Park - there are now many more across borders around the world. As you can see from the photos, the park is really beautiful. The mountains are part of the Rockies and still have snow on top of some while the lakes are crystal clear and freezing cold (after walking I dipped my toes in but couldn't stand it for too long).
We went on a hike organised jointly with a Canadian and an American guide (I'm pictured with them below). The hike goes all the way along Upper Waterton Lake, starting just by the Waterton townsite, and finishing in Goat Haunt, Montana. It was an all day hike (hence the need to be paddling in the lake at the end of it - tired feet) and it was 14km long. Fortunately since it was along the lakeshore it was flat.
I was especially glad to be going on a guided hike after the welcome talk included the fact that both guides carried bear spray - pepper spray for bears! Apparently they can target a bear from 20 feet away. However, they also added that if a bear was in the vicinity just to stay close to them while they decided what we should do (they didn't say what this could be other than get off the trail, I was hoping this wasn't code for "decide who to feed to the bear first"). However, I didn't see any bears in the end.

Bites Update

This was the bites when they were pretty bad and driving me crazy. You might not think it's so bad but I never get allergic reactions or any bites at all usually so it was bad for me! However, I can now report that the Canadian mosquitoes must have moved on to new blood as there were no new bites this weekend. My work colleagues have also introduced my to Benadryl so the swelling went down when I started taking it and hasn't bothered me since - just a couple of red spots now!

Around Lethbridge

This Saturday, Fiona took me out to Broxburn Farm for lunch. It's just outside of Lethbridge in the countryside. It was really nice as they grow all their own vegetables and bake their own bread and our lunches were excellent. It was quite busy there so everyone else obviously agrees with me! The countryside around Lethbridge is very flat and seems to go on forever. The farms are huge and there are a lot of Dutch farmers over here - and lots are still moving out. They even have their own Dutch school. I guess they have all the irrigation techniques from the same landscape in Holland. The picture is from opposite the cafe, you can just about see me by the wagon and hopefully get an idea of the surrounding area. [Note also the lovely blue skies I've been enjoying here].

After lunch we went to the Galt Museum in Lethbridge which has displays on Southern Alberta. I found out all about the Prairies and the Chinook Winds, the Blood Tribe who are native to Alberta, the Cowboys, the Lethbridge Herald and saw all sorts of other exhibits. The museum is located overlooking the high-level railway bridge across the Oldman River and the Coulees so it has some pretty spectacular views. In the picture you can just about make out a train coming across the bridge (to the right of my head). The museum has a good gift shop as well, in the picture you can see me holding on to my shopping!

Finally that day I had my first ever Dairy Queen and I can report back that it certainly won't be my last!!!

More of where I'm living

Have been mostly hiding indoors during the evenings this week in an (unsuccessful) attempt to avoid the mosquitoes - they're not bad, but I never usually get bitten so they're particularly annoying. However, one thing everyone tells me about Southern Alberta is that they enjoy their food, and I'm certainly enjoying it with them so have been trying to walk some of it off and the College campus is really big so it's a great place to do that.
The picture is of the front of the College and this is the main drive leading up to it. If you look closely you can see LCC spelt out in the flowers. All of the lawns and flower beds are really well kept and watered on an automatic hose system each day (I have to be careful walking to my flat as the water sprays all over).
The second picture is the local wildlife - it's pretty cute but apparently a bit of nuisance. I think I scared it as it stayed dead still while I approached and took the picture (either that or it likes having its picture taken - I think it might even be posing a little bit)!

Where I'm living

This is me in my living room at my flat. It's actually student accommodation, but it's really nice. The flowers you can see are a welcome from my new work colleagues. The living room area has a settee, table and chairs and a kitchen area which is opposite where I'm sitting. The fridge and freezer are big so plenty of room for ice-cream (Ben & Jerrys is cheap here)!

The flat has a bathroom - with a decent shower - then my double bedroom and a single bedroom which I have set up as my TV room, I get cable TV.

To get to work it takes 2 minutes (I'm going to hate it when I go back to the 40 minute commute at home). The College campus is huge, it takes half an hour to walk round the perimeter. In fact, everything in Lethbridge is bigger than at home - it takes a bit of getting used to, but it's all good!

Canada Day

On 1st July it's Canada Day so there were some events to celebrate this around Lethbridge. Fiona took me out and about to see them and the first place we went to was Fort Whoop-Up (yes that really is its name).

While we were there we found there was a ceremony taking place for new Canadians. People from all cultures were there and they were all very excited to become Canadian. It was quite informal, out in the sunshine as they pledged their allegiances. However, the parade at the beginning (top picture) with all the dignitaries was very British and they played Scotland The Brave on bagpipes as they marched in - pretty surreal!

Fort Whoop-Up is a pretty interesting place. It gets its name because traders sold illegal alcohol and stuff to the natives out of the fort so I guess they were having a lot of fun holed up there! The picture is of inside the fort where there is a bearskin covering the bed! There were lots of skins hanging up there as it gets cold in the winter.

We also went to some of the parks where they had celebrations going on ... and I'm being eaten alive by mosquitoes, I think they must like English blood! I've got some insect repellant and some horrible smelling stuff with ammonia in it to stop the itching so hopefully that'll get better!