Italian Feast

We were invited to our host's parents Easter feast last week, and what a feast it was. So much food that I couldn't get to sleep later that evening, All authentic Italian delicious food....

1st Course, Fresh olives, tomatoes and beautiful fresh bread
2nd Course, Lasagna and fettuccine - huge servings...
3rd Course, Lamb Kebabs, spicy sausages, vegetables and salads.
4th Course, Italian cake, Chocolate cake, Easter chocolates, Biscuits
5th Course, Fruit and esspresso

Now that was a lot of food, whilst retiring between courses, we enjoyed cigars and fine wine... It really was a great day of relaxation, feasting and fellowship!

Canadian update

Its nice and cold here at the moment, well, very cold actually! We are getting snow, which is pretty nice for us, but just another annoyance for the locals who are waiting for the warmth. We have been chillin out, getting our bearings and doing a bit of catch up with people we know. Our residence for the moment is excellent and we are really enjoying the company of our Host's, they are a great couple.
Had some of the local beer, very watery, but still many more types to try, so there is still hope for the Canadian beer, not much, but some!
It took us a while to get over the Jetlag, but its finally done. A few nights of crashing out at 7pm, waking up at 4am and its over. Apparently its worse going back the other way, so will have to see about that.

Have caught a bit of a "coffee bug" here, the Canadians love their coffee and donuts, whilst i'm refraining on the donuts, I have really been caught up in the coffee craze, there is a place called "Tim Hortons", its on almost every street corner and is always busy, they serve up percolated coffee, so you get your order within seconds and it is really really good coffee. It costs about $1.12 for a regular coffee and then you need to ask for a "double-double" which is double milk and 2 sugars, I tried asking for a "white with 2?" blank stares all around... Some people cannot understand the Aussie accent, which has me wondering if I have a speach impediment?

The Cold

Well, we are still freezing our butts off, but its not too bad, its quite nice not to be sweating a litre an hour and being able to rug up and get cozy! We are now in our homestay place in Toronto, it is really great and the couple we are staying with is also really great. The Canadians seem to be obsessed with Coffee, every 20m as you walk down the street, there are numerous coffee shops and cafes that are packed all times of the day.
It has been quite a shock to see the prices of things as we go shopping here, we are constantly referring back to how many baht or ringgit that would have cost us in Asia and are not impressed. It is going to be quite a while until we will be able to accept the real price of things here!

Arrival In Canada

Talk about Cold, we are here, freezing our bottoms off in Toronto. It is about 5 degrees celcius and we are really feeling it. We are extremely jetlagged and tired, so will update when i have recovered.

We got the Job!

Well, we just found out that we got the job we wanted, working in a fishing lodge in Canada. We are pretty excited about it. We have left Eloise up a river and are having our first few days back on dry land, staying at a bit of a dodgy back-packers, but it is fun.
Fly on to Singapore tomorrow for another night in Geylang, the red light district! Cant wait, great food and entertainment!

The Plan and where we have been

Final week in Malaysia

Well, the week didnt start off very well, we were heading in to pick up the tennis rackets and play a couple of rounds, when we were told that a new rule had come in that "yachties" were not allowed to use the tennis courts unless they paid a fee. I was quite upset and had a few words to say, but there was no budging on their behalf. So we huffed off and went for a run instead, which was good, as we then started running each day and now are easily doing 30 mins non-stop then we go and do an hour work-out in the gym, so things are going really well.



The Pack-up is going well too, we have almost completed our pack-down of Eloise and are nearing the day that we will be heading to her home for 8 months, I had to change the packing in the stuffing box (nautical term) whilst in the water, bit of a nervous event, but no problems. Then had to re-align the motor and found that the flexible coupling had warped a little, so new one when we get back i think. The weather has started to turn and we are getting the daily showers/thunder storms and sometimes a bit of a squall. The humidity has really gone through the roof and all the yachties are getting around with sweat stained shirts!
We also threw our oven out and are looking at options for changing in a new one, so we have been eating out every night at the local stores, $2 Aus for a great meal and a drink, so we are really enjoying it.

Our friend Nigel is also coming up to see us before we head off, so that will be a good couple of days for sure, will be good to catch up!