Hello!

I can't believe it's June already. I haven't written a blog in a long while as the internet is rubbish here, so I gave up in attemping. But it's not so bad today so thought I'd give it a go!

We've had a busy week at work towards the end of May but then it was also quiet at times. On 27th May we finished work early and drove to Jasper, where we caught an 'old school' bus (not literally a school bus.. just retro) to the Athabasca river. We went with 6 other people from work and met some other workers from MPL as the trip was open to all of MPL's properties. We went on a raft float trip down the river which was fun - there were the odd areas with rapids which resulted in getting a very wet bum and legs, but it was mostly a calm trip. It was just a taster so we can see what our guests experience. The next raft trip on offer is more extreme and a helmet job - so may sign up for that too when it opens! On our raft the paddler had his dog - he was really cute and sat next to Jacob for the whole trip, and loved his belly being rubbed and pampered with attention from everybody.

It was our supervisor, Angel's birthday on Friday. We decorated work with ballons and banners and toilet roll! We also helped Anna (our S.African housemate) decorate the cakes she baked, and Lucy (our English housemate) baked her one too. We had the day off so after popping into work to say Happy Birthday, we drove to Jasper, where we grabbed lunch at the Bear Paw Cafe. I had potato salad from there and actually ate all the olives in it! What's wrong with me - stomaching gerkins and now olives?! Must be the Canadian air. We then drove to Marmot Basin, which is a nearby ski resort, but it was closed, so we headed towards Athabasca Falls!

Athabasca Falls is such a pretty place. The waterfall was pretty amazing and the natural canyon and potholes formed and shaped by the water were really interesting. There was a bay near the waters edge where people were bulding inukshuks with the rocks - we could have attempted one but the journey down was pretty wet as it was raining and we weren't really prepared for it. But we will definitely go back further into summer when the weather is a bit nicer.

On Saturday, we worked and celebrated Mayumis birthday (our Japanese housemate). We surprised her by decorating the house and baking a cake, which we all gobbled at lunch time. We also ate out at the Japanese restaurant in Hinton after work which was nice. Only 5 of us went as the rest had to work, but it was still fun. I had noodles with vegetables, Jacob had chicken noodles and tried a spicy tuna sushi (yuck - and he thought so too). I managed to eat part of my meal with chopsticks, but then gave up as I wanted to cut things up!

Still love it here. The scenery always looks beautiful. I really ought to take some photos of my workplace to show you all! Work are offering lots of activities and events for staff which is good. There's a 'meet and greet' coming up at the riding stables in Jasper with campfires, free food and drink, and a chance to meet other workers from the other sites, so we might go to that. There's also a BBQ coming up as all of the summer staff will be recruited by then, so it's a bit of a welcome party.

Not much else to update you on. We're off to Edmonton on Thursday and Friday this week, which is about a 3 hour drive away. Looking forward to that! We're going to stay in a 1930's hotel which looks cool.

All my news for now!