Hi Everyone!
Wow, time seems to have gone by so fast, I can't believe that it has been a month since I wrote on my blog, and nearly two months that I have been in Canada! A lot has happened since I last wrote, and the snow has all melted, in fact this past week it has been up around 10 degrees Celsius!
While I do miss the snow, I can't wait for summer to come. On the last weekend of February Kirsten (the girl who will be coming to Auckland in July) invited me up to her 'cottage' to go skiing. That was heaps of fun; we ate beaver tails and Poutine, and made a snow fort. We also watched Canada win the Gold Medal Hockey Game - it was a truly Canadian weekend.
I went to a Rotary dinner for all of the clubs in Burlington, where 'Paul Harris Awards' were presented. It was a very interesting evening, and the guest speaker was Fergie Jenkins, a Canadian baseball player. While he is now retired, it was fascinating listening to him speak, and I really enjoyed it. All of the exchange students from Burlington got a photo with him, and a signed baseball. It was a great evening though, and I enjoyed speaking to the other Rotary members.
On the weekend, I went bowling with Nicole and Meaghan, some of my friends from school. That was good fun, and I didn't fail quite as miserably as last time. (Though it isn't hard to do any better than that). That afternoon Mark (Aussie) and I went over to Misaki's home, and had dinner there. She had made a Japanese Sushi dish, though it wasn't like the sushi we are used too, and Mark made Lamingtons. I took a Pavlova, which actually turned out okay, believe it or not! It was a little mushy on the inside, kinda like mouse, but it was pretty good.
Then, last Friday I went to a 'Blue Rodeo' concert with Laurie, her sister in-law, and her niece. Blue Rodeo is a Canadian band, and they sing kinda country music, kinda slow rock. It was great though, and I loved it! They sang some really nice songs, and I am going to have to get a CD of their music.
On Saturday Terry took Misaki, Mark and I to see a Hamilton Bulldogs Hockey game. The Hamilton Bulldogs are in the league below the NHL, and it was a fantastic game to see. They were tied at the end, so the game went into overtime, and then into a shootout. Apparently it is quite rare to see a shootout, so that was really exciting. That atmosphere at the game was awesome, and we had great seats, very close to the rink. It was my first Hockey game, and Misaki's too, and we all loved it! We got to have this week off school, for 'March Break'. I guess it is kinda like the
Term 1 Holiday, but this is all they get until summer... NZ has much better school holidays! I went bowling with Nicole and Jordan (friends from school), and then we went and saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D, it was a pretty awesome movie, I really enjoyed it. We got to the movie early, so guess what we did... more bowling! The way I am talking, I'm sure you guys are going to think that the only thing people do in Canada is bowl! I have been more times this year than the rest of my life put together! Well, close to it anyway...
Then, on Thursday Julie (a woman from the Burlington North Rotary Club) picked me up, and took me and Misaki along with her and her daughters to see her Aunt Noelle and Uncle Raymond who live on a farm, and make their own Maple Syrup. It was quite a long car ride up there, about 370km, but it was worth every minute. I had an amazing time! It took us nearly all day Thursday to get up there, as we stopped to see several of Julie's relatives. When we got there we went out to the barn (exactly like the ones on Farmville :P. In the barn were two massive horses, the top of their backs were higher than my head! They are work horses, and Raymond uses them when he is tapping the Maple Trees. There were also 3 cats in the barn, who Raymond said don't ever come into the house, they are purely barn cats. On Friday we got up and had Maple Syrup on French Toast, before getting dressed up warmly and heading out into the bush. We took the Quad-Bike, and it was quite a way out. We headed out to the 'Sugar Shack', which is where Noelle and Raymond make boil down the sap into maple syrup. It was a small hut that they had built by hand, in the middle of the maple forest. It was very picturesque, and I loved it there. Raymond showed us how to tap the trees, and then took us for a walk around the forest, showing us the different types of maple, and which trees are the best. He has had this farm for about 11 years now, and said that he knows each tree off by heart. We got back to the sugar shack around lunch time, and Noella had made some chilli for us to have. It was really good, and warmed me right up. Then we went outside to the fire, and began to boil down some maple syrup into taffy. We then poured the Taffy onto some snow Noella had saved for us, and ate it. And, it was amazing. It tasted so, so good. We then boiled it down even more, and made it into sugar cakes, which Noella and Raymond gave us to take home. I haven’t started eating mine yet, but I am sure it will be incredible. I was really sad to leave this morning, as I had had such an incredible time. We left at about 9am this morning, and were home for around 1pm, which wasn't too bad.
School again on Monday, something I am beginning to get used too. It still feels weird going to school and not seeing my friends, but I have made lots of new friends, which is good! I have also begun to get used to the amount of homework we get given! Nearly every night we get homework, and I am very glad I will not be getting Credit for it, because I am sure my grades would not be so great. Saying that however, each test I do is better than the last.
I miss you all lots, Love Sarah. xoxox
