Thursday 21st was a day I had been looking forward to ever since I had booked my flights in January. I had arranged a surprise visit to Ashley in New Foundland. Ashley is a great friend who was in my class at uni, and although we have skyped, I hadn't seen her since graduation. She is Canadian and came back to New Foundland to work as a physio here. She is also the person who first called me 'Dora the Explorer' because most weekends at Uni I was away somewhere with my trusty oversized rucksack. Not to mention when the physio girls stayed with me in London and I was never without my map! Having arranged the surprise with her boyfriend Colin, you can imagine the look on her face when she got home from work to find me chilling out on her sofa with her dog on my lap! Priceless!
Once she had got over the shock we went out for dinner. I had heard elsewhere in Canada that 'Newfies' could be a bit strange, so when I peered in the window of the restaurant to see everyone sat in paper moose hats I wondered what i`d let myself in for! Thankfully they were celebrating a birthday and there were no Canadian themed fancy dress hats for me. New foundland is the farthest east side of Canada, and across the Antlantic from the UK. So I was the closest to home I'd been in 9 months! Over dinner we had a great catch up between Ashley pinching herself and Colin's hilarious attempts at a cockney accent. Meanwhile they appeared to find my British conversation equally funny. When the waiter told me he was moving to York next month, I enthusiastially notified him of the lovely tea shop opposite the Cathedral.
With Ashley working Friday and Monday it was up to tour guide Colin ensured I got the full cultural experience. This included Dairy Queen (ice cream), Menchies (frozen yoghurt), Costco (putine- chips with gravy and cheese) and Starbucks. He also showed me downtown St Johns, the harbour, quirky cafes and shops all painted in different colours. Signal hill is a great view point over the town and on a clear day you can see Ireland. (only kidding). Infact to get an entire clear day is a rareity as the fog rolls in off the Atlantic at 5pm most days, only leaving the following morning when the sun comes through.
Signal hill was the outpost and lined with canons played a major part in the battle between the French and British in the 1800s. New Foundland remained British until 1949, with St Johns providing a base for American troops in the war. In a very close vote, it joined Canada as a province in 1949 and with it then begrudgingly sharing the benefits of a thriving fishing industry with the rest of the country. The crazy thing is that geographically New Foundland is closer to Egypt than it is other parts of Canada! The building on signal hill also has the claim to fame of hosting the very first telephone conversation across the Atlantic.
Ashley and Colin have a 2 year old black Labrador called Tobey who showered me the whole weekend with kisses and cuddles- particularly in the car! I enjoyed a few lovely coastal hikes with Ashley and Tobey. The last week the capelin fish have been in the bays, which has brought regular sightings of whales barely 50m from the shore. However, sadly none came to surface on any of our walks.
Colin had planned for us to go away to his family cabin over the weekend with some of their friends - Kristen, Darrell and Tyler. I was promised a 'Canadian beer commercial weekend' by the lake and it did not disappoint! The weather was absolutely beautiful and we chilled out all weekend. Complete with wooden cabin, taxidermy, moose antlers on the wall, wharf on the lake, frisbee, 2-4 of beer, BBQ and lake swim. And the dog. It was about a 45 min drive from town and I enjoyed taking in the scenery- lakes, random rocks (deposited from glaciers) and a moose! (albeit a stunned post accident, lying in a ditch moose next to a smashed in car). Once again I had to sample typical cabin North American treats. The first being the campfire classic of a s'more. The delicacy of a toasted marshmallow wedged between 2 biscuits with a lump of chocolate. I'll be honest, I've tasted worse things. The latter being toutems- a breakfast fried doughball with thick black syrup alled mollases.
Other observations made this weekend were that I still cannot throw a frisbee and cannot do a Canadian accent. Colin has ensured that I have had the full education on baseball and tv shows that I should be watching and I am going home with a list to last me the next 20 years. Even though I didn't get officially 'screeched in', I had an iceberg beer (self explanatory) and was accepted as part of the newfie crew. It was great to have banter and fun with Colin, Ashley and their friends and I hope we can all hang out again soon.
Both Ashley and I felt sad to say bye- it's funny how you don't see someone for ages, then when you do see them you realise how much you've missed them. It was great to reminisce over Uni stories but also to promise not to leave it so long next time.
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