Week 30 - 30 Weeks Already!

I was making my way to work one day this week and it hit me. We are actually here in Canada. We talked about it for so long, that it actually happened. You may be thinking, jeez, she's a slow one. I guess when you settle into real life with work, paying bills etc you can easily forget that you aren't home and this isn't the norm really.

Anyway, into the week we go. Monday was another real full time day for me. I worked from 8:30 - 12:30 assisting, had a break, then taught for the rest of the afternoon. Again I had so much fun teaching. I got told I was very nice by a student. He also told me I was quite pretty too despite the fact that I didn't wear lipstick. Made me chuckle. I then made my way home to relax for a bit before being picked up by Pete to head to our pastors house. I was helping with teaching sewing and Pete was working on their car. After a day with kids, my patience was wearing slightly thin with the girls who 'tried' to listen and follow instructions. After the class, I kissed Pete goodbye and went home to put my feet up. Pete on the other hand worked until 11pm on the car.

Tuesday I began my day like most Tuesdays - with a sleep in! I then busied myself with organizing insurance for Jelly. After ringing around several places that weekend, we were told getting insurance on an international license was going to be impossible. However, I managed to find a company, so I spent my morning on the phone and the computer. I then made my way to work and within no time, was making my way home again. That night I had sewing. So with a new pattern and fabric, I began my new sewing project (spring pants). The time went so quickly. I love learning new things and hanging out with other women that share my passion about sewing.

Wednesday was another day. It was nice to not have anything on that night. So when Pete arrived home, he made us dinner and we snuggled in for the night in front of the Christmas tree (AKA Bob) that we have shamefully not disposed of yet, and the TV.

Thursday I indulged in another sleep in. The day went quickly and before I knew it, I was strolling off to work for the 'day'. After another enjoyable time at work, I made my way home to relax before we headed off for connect group. Our group was smaller than usual, so we spent the majority of our time praying for people close to us. It was awesome to do so, and awesome again to connect with our church family.

Friday appeared quite quickly. Before I knew it, I was chatting about plans for the weekend with colleagues then wishing them a good weekend before heading off for home. We had another quiet one that night with Pete heading for bed fairly early and me perusing YouTube and Facebook.

Saturday we lounged in bed, doing a devotional and chatting about future plans. We then headed off for the north to Cross Iron Mills. That is a large mall with several outlet stores. My find of the day was pants at a surf shop that were marked down 90%. Hadn't seen that before. Out of curiosity I glanced at the price. $3.99. Couldn't beat that I thought. So I tried 2 pairs of jean on and brought them. They were shorter jeans, perfect for the summer. Pete's find of the day was a pair of snow pants. In Oakley, I encouraged him to try a pair on. They were perfect - and marked at $150. The guy behind the til scanned them and they came up as $58! Perfect. When Pete tired, we made our way to church as our connect group was on set up and I was teaching that night. We had some time to kill before church, so stopped to sample the coffee at the coffee shop that got our tick of approval last week. Church was awesome. I had spent the week preparing for the lesson. It went so well. The kids were like little sponges soaking up everything the lesson about Zacchaeus had to offer. We then helped pack up after church, and then a bunch of us went to a local pub for some food. Overall, an awesome day which was made so much better knowing we had another free day the next day.

Sunday we awoke to a bucket load of sunshine, so we decided to open up the book a colleague gave me 'Day Trips From Calgary' to see where our travels should take us that day. We decided on 'Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump". A mouthful to say, but an amazing place to visit. Buffalo Jump is basically a hilltop where the First Nations used to skillfully cause the buffalo to stampede and then unknowingly jump off the hilltop. They used to do this in Autumn, and this would kill hundreds of buffalo, feeding a tribe for the winter. We learned so much and had so much fun. We love exploring more of our new home and especially learning more of the history.

A replica of the buffalo jumping the cliff. About 12m high.

These things weighed over half a tonne when mature. (I mean the buffalo of course) 

Me being extremely comfortable touching the buffalo.

View from the hilltop.

It was freezing and I foolishly told Pete to leave his coat in the car. The poor thing had a red nose pretty quickly.

Smashed in Head - Buffalo Jump.

Me looking closer. To be honest it was so cold my hands and eyes couldn't handle the telescope.

In a tipi. Pretty awesome.

Amazing creatures that First Nations relied on heavily for. They used them for food, shelter and warmth.

When the white man came into town, they started killing buffalo for sport often wasting the beast. That's where 'Buffalo Bill' came from. He organized hunting expeditions.

Me looking rough, but the scenery looking gorgeous.

And that brings us to another end of a week. Our book of day trips has many hikes, so if we're feeling adventurous, you may see snaps of us braving the cold to walk the beautiful land called Canada.