Frickin' Freezin!

Howdy once again!
This time, I'm writing and I'm actually half way round the world. It's now my 3rd day in Vancouver and I'm lovin' it! I'm sitting in the SWAP (Student Work Abroad Program) office on West Hastings Street in the middle of downtown, looking out the window at the Canadian snow. I can't quite see the harbour from here, but it's spectacular!

I arrived on Tuesday night (Nov 28th) about 2 hours late (due to flights being delayed in LAX) into about -10c and snow falling! It was so cold it actually makes you cough! It's unusual for Vancouver to be so cold and if they have snow, it's not usually until January, which is considered the middle of winter.

It's warmed up a bit now and the snow is starting to melt, but Vancouver is still a very pretty city. So far I haven't seen a lot outside of the central city because I spent my first day here doing all the paper work I need to work here. So, now I have started my new life - I have a bank account, a Social Insurance Number and the like!

Yesterday I went out with some of the other hostelers to Stanley Park, which is 450 hectares of reserve land in the North East of Vancouver Central. It was all covered in snow and a few degrees colder than the city, but it was amazing! We saw lots of little squirrels running around, Beever Lake was frozen and all the pines trees had snow on them - it was just like a Christmas card! We spent about 4 hours wandering around the park, which leads right down to the waterfront and an amazing view of Lion's Gate Bridge (which connects to North Vancouver). There is something very odd about seeing snow on a beach though - very surreal!

I'm going to head up to Banff next just to have a look around, and then possibly across to Calgary. It's pretty chilly up there though - about -20c on a good day! I'll post from there!

(Am trying to figure out how to get some photos up... but the SWAP computers (which are free) don't have USB plugs... they are pretty oldskool)