Hi all, Time for another update on what we've been up to and since Benny told me the other day that he's the photographer & I'm the journalist I guess it's my turn to blog again haha.... Tuesday 12.03.13: We had an early wake up call at 2.20am to alarms blaring through the apartment. So we jumped out of bed & ran around in our half asleep state trying to work out what's set off the alarm & how to turn it off before we wake up the neighbours (thinking the smoke alarm was playing tricks)... Turns out we weren't on fire so we finally worked out how to turn the alarm off, but instead of quiet we could now hear it going off all through the apartment building. Finally realising we need to evacuate lol, downstairs we go with everyone else into the cold and rain (of course it was raining). We ended up freezing outside for about a half hour before the fire brigade gave the all clear that we could go back in. Turned out to be a false alarm thank goodness - they think someone smoking in the parking garage was what set off the alarms. So we should have been back in our apartment half hour after we left it, except when there's a fire alarm the elevators go into lockdown and need to be reset & the security lady working that night didn't know how to do that... The poor b***** was pressing all sorts of buttons and ringing people for help while copping flak from grumpy residents who wanted to go back to bed. We couldn't even walk up the fire stairs as they are locked from inside the stairwell as a security measure - to stop people on the 20th floor from going up the stairs to say the 30th floor. In the end the security lady walked everyone up the fire stairs unlocking each level as she went - there were some very unhappy campers. We ended up back in our room at 4am so I was just glad we didn't have to get up that day for work like some of the other people in our building. After that early morning episode we slept in a bit, then caught the train out to Brentwood shopping mall. It was still raining and miserable all day so we spent the arvo at the shops where it was warm & dry. Wednesday 13.03.13: I had no luck the day before finding a warm jacket so we decided to head out on the train to Metroland to Vancouver's largest shopping mall - it's apparently the second biggest mall in Canada. It was still raining all day again so being inside was a great option. We pretty much spent the whole day there shopping, but didn't really find much.. It's weird coz its still pretty cold here but all of the shops have all their spring clothes in store now. So everyone is walking around the mall in boots & jackets, but the shops are selling hot pants, singlets and thongs - you would swear you were somewhere tropical till you stepped outside. At such a huge mall you would have thought I'd find a jacket, but nooo. We also stopped in at the transport office all keen to get our British Columbia drivers licences. It's a pretty straightforward process, no test, they basically take your Australian licence and give you a BC one. You just have to show proof that you've held a licence for 2 years in your home country otherwise you have to go on your learners permit. We'd previously gotten our licence history when we applied for our visas and we'd read online that you only need to show a copy to get your licence, so we'd scanned this along with our other documents to save bringing a wad of paperwork with us. When we got to the licensing office they told us that no we actually needed the original - so frustrating as we have them, but they're back home buried somewhere in the storage shed... We can still drive on our Aussie licence for 90days but since they post the BC licences out it was going to be easier to get it sorted while we were staying in one place (for the postal address). Nevermind, we called it a day and went back home empty handed. Thursday 14.03.13: Happy birthday to my beautiful Mum :) xxx After not getting our licences on Wednesday we went home and did some research. We found that since Ben's licence was issued a few years ago and had all the renewal stickers on it, that would serve as his proof. Mine however was a newly issued one from last year so I was still the problem.... We decided to try printing a coloured copy of my licence history this time and trying a different office to see if we could get away with it, sneaky sneaky. So we went uptown and had a go, but no luck, she could tell it was a copy and no good to us. She did tell us that we could have Qld Transport fax it through direct to them and that would suffice. We put mine in the 'too hard basket' for the time being and got Ben his licence - yay! We then went off to the Service Canada office to get our Social Insurance Numbers (SIN) - basically like a tax file number, required for work. Lastly we shopped around and got a local SIM card for our phone. At the moment since we'll be together anyway we're just sharing one - our canadian number is +16043551614 if you want to text/call us. So it was a very wet & rainy but productive day! Friday 15.03.13: The morning started out pretty gloomy but clear so we decided to go for a walk along the seawall near our apartment. We ended up past Granville Island before the rain set in so we went for lunch downtown. We went for a walk afterwards and once the rain started again we stopped at a cafe for coffee and a spot of people watching. The umbrella we bought in our first week sure has been the best investment!!! We made a dash for home in a break in the rain and settled in for the rainy afternoon where we skyped both of our parents - it was so great to see & chat with everyone back home. Saturday 16.03.13: Another grey, gloomy & rainy day so we caught the ferry over to Granville Island for the public markets. Stacks of fresh fruit, meats, cheeses, chocolates, cakes & flowers galore - soooo good! We spent a few hours roaming around the markets before coming back home to escape the cold & rain. Had a Skype chat with my whole family and then Dan & Aleisha as well. So great to be on the other side of the world and yet speak to and see our loved ones so clearly. Sunday 17.03.13 - St Patricks Day: The morning dawned sunny & bright but windy and wow was the wind cold. Looking outside was deceptive - to see the sunshine you'd think it was quite pleasant out but in fact it was the coldest day since we'd arrived. We went along to the annual St Paddys Day street parade uptown and it was pretty cool, everyone was very into it. Afterwards we hung around in town for the Irish festivities but despite the sunshine it was just too cold out on the street so we found somewhere for brunch. We did some more exploring afterwards but ended up heading home to escape the wind. Monday 18.03.13: Today was another sunny and clear day but again it was so cold and windy - not as cold as yesterday though. Because it was such a nice day we went up to the Vancouver Lookout downtown to check out the beautiful scenery around us. We ended up staying there for quite a while & Benny got some great photos. I had a bit of a headache so we headed home, took it easy all afternoon & got Chinese take out for dinner. Tuesday 19.03.13: Firstly a big happy birthday to our wonderful Jenny :) xx Today was cool outside, not too cold, but overcast & cloudy again. Big news of the day is I finally got my drivers licence, and no I didn't have to get my learners ha. To save re-ordering & paying for my licence history again, mum took a scanned copy that we had into Qld Transport & had them fax it over here (thank you mum xx). We went in today and 5mins later - voila I have a licence. Benny was on the hunt for some new shoes so we caught the train out to Metrotown again & hit the shops, then we were home this afternoon in time for a Skype call with Michelle :) Words of the Day: Muesli bar: granola bar Soft drink: soda or pop Lollies/chocolate: candy Potato chips (in a packet): crisps Takeaway meal: take out Apartment/unit: condo Bush/forest: backcountry Autumn: fall Footpath: sidewalk Fringe: bangs Jug: pitcher Cotton bud: cotton swab or Q-Tip (a brand) Hope all is well at home, chat soon. Love Loz xxx