Summer summer summer time!!

uuuuuaaaahhh...aren't they great, all these people who start a blog and then never ever post any updates?? sorry, I will give the blog a fundamental face-lifting soon. The problem is the weather: you don't wanna spend your time in front of your PC when you could go sailing, barbecueing, kayaking, camping, hiking etc. etc. at the same time! And we do all this A LOT! So please excuse my laziness! I wish you all a wonderful, hopefully sunny summer, enjoy it, feel the bliss :))

Take care and a presto,
the relaxed Anja

outdoor stuff

To fullfill some clichés of a life in Canada - on sunny days you do stuff like ..

...eagle-watching..

..taking the bus and go for a hike in the afternoon (that was BEFORE I started working for Olympia..)

...philosophizing about the sense of fly-fishing..

..taking pictures of waterfalls..

..and of Vancouver in clouds!

Dear friends, life's pretty diverse here!

In the year of the ox!

You all know for sure that we just left the chinese year of the rat behind and started into the properous year of the ox at the end of january, eh? And for everybody who giving birth this year (as my sister, super-joana etc.) here some words about the future of your unborn child:

"People born in the Year of the Ox are patient, speak little, and inspire confidence in others. They tend, however, to be eccentric, and bigoted, and they anger easily. They have fierce tempers and although they speak little, when they do they are quite eloquent. Ox people are mentally and physically alert. Generally easy-going, they can be remarkably stubborn, and they hate to fail or be opposed. They are most compatible with Snake, Rooster, and Rat people. So check that out when they introduce their first dates to you :)

The Chinese New Year's Parade was a colourful, great event, with the mayor of Vancouver on a riksha and trompet players with Viking helmets...??!!! Different cultures different styles I thought...unfortunately it was raining like hell, so we rushed into a restaurant which was filled with app. 500 chinese guys and enjoyed a not to hot and sour hot-and-sour-soup.


In Vietnam the chinese new year's day is the birthday of ALL vietnamese people, too. That makes it on one hand a bit stressful with all the birthday parties on ONE evening, but you NEVER forget your best friend's big day..! I have to find out if that's the same in China, too..

Obamania in Vancouver

..watching the parade for four long hours, celebrating the inauguration day in a pub at night, listening to the now world famous inauguration speech again and again - I and Vancouver were in Obama-fever this Tuesday. What an event, what a symbol, what a cute president :) Compare Stephen Harper and there is something missing...

Hiking in winterwonderland

I mentioned the snow chaos before. But although all the Canadians around me freaked out, the stores ran out of snow tires, snow shovels, salt, snow chains, although half of the newspapers were full of articles about unshovelled and icy sidewalks, although they got superterribly furious about unplowed sidestreets, frozen and exploded water pipes and the mayor had to cut short his vacation in Mexico and hurry back to Winter-Vancouver...I LOVED IT! I borrowed some snowshoes and went hiking on Grouse Mountain. And while it was pouring rain in the city I walked through a winterwonderland I've never seen before! Unbelievable! Tons of snow! Oh, was it great...! So listen to Mireille Mathieu and enjoy...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uymETvDdjuU (Thanks Anke..!)

Swimming like a polar bear...

...try almost 2000 Vancouverites each year on New Year's Day. Let's say it's a kind of "fresh start" into the brand new year. Some of the people there seemed to have partied through the night and then cooled down in the ice-cold Pacific. The water had six!!! degrees...The Polar Bear Club of Vancouver is one of the oldest in the world - the first freaks took the plunge into the ocean in 1920. Rabea and I decided to watch the spectacle and join the club in 2010 ;)

More pictures of the event: http://picasaweb.google.com/anjasailer/PolarBearSwimming1109