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Friday, January 31, 2014

Snowshoeing and all that jazz

So the whole month of January I don't have a job, but a lot of time to enjoy the mountains and my friends here in Vancouver. Even without fresh snow, enough pictures to show off with.  :) 
I've also been keeping busy and useful by helping my hosts out removing wallpaper and painting one of the rooms. And, as I mentioned before, I have been doing volunteer work as a ski instructor for disabled, which means I have been up on the hill a few times per week. It is a lot of fun and very rewarding!
In the mean time I'm trying to figure out where I want to work and what I want to do. I can't imagine myself working as an engineer in an office 40h a week, nor as an outdoor guide the rest of my life? Something in between would be awesome! And then there is the everlasting questions of where? In Vancouver or closer to home in Europe? With most of my spare time filled with really amazing time in the outdoors and a great city with new friends, it is hard to make a decision whether I want to settle here or find a job in Europe to be closer to my family and good friends whom I obviously miss as well.

Oh well, we'll celebrate my birthday in Whistler, who can say no to that, eh? 
And then I'll be off for my ski-tour-guide-job around Banff. And a roadtrip with Lenny which will get me back to Vancouver in March. Oh, what a life. 

While I ponder a bit more about the choices of life, here are a bunch of pictures to keep you entertained.


A (full moon) weekend snowshoeing to the Elfin lakes:

View on the Howe Sound and Squamish
First time on snowshoes, fun!









Sunset
Sunrise


Girls gone wild




Wintercamping: Cold but fun!!

I built Snow bar 2.0
(Well, I started it, someone else finished)
Thanks to Rene Ouwerkerk,
for building Snow bar 1.0 which served as inspiration










Views from the local ski resorts

View on the fog in Vancouver from Mt. Seymour
View on Vancouver From Grouse Mt. at night
And another day in Whistler with new friends






Tuesday, January 14, 2014

My winter in Vancouver

Lots has happened in the last month and I haven't really been good with keeping up my blog. So today just a post about my way of dealing with no job and very little snow, and for the rest a lot of pictures of Whistler, Christmas turkey, New Years party, winter decoration lights and random hikes in the last few weeks. Scroll down for the picture part!


Beginning of December I have enjoyed two weeks in the Netherlands seeing my family and friends again, which was a really, really great time.
I had been hoping that winter would finally kick in and snow would have come by the time I had returned to Canada. But I have been disappointed so far. Apart from a little snow fall just before Christmas (of which I made the Snowmen on my Christmas card) there has only been rain or very little snow, with temperatures mostly around 8 degrees. Most local ski resorts are still half closed, with only the runs open that have snow blowers. Even Whistler is struggling.

If that hasn't been enough to give me a warm welcome (pun intended) back in Canada, my contract has ended a bit earlier then expected. My next job starting only in February, I suddenly had the whole month of January free. This would have been great if there would have been lots of snow to enjoy... But paying money to be on a mountain with only a thin layer of man-made-snow? Näääähh.....
(For those that don't know me well enough, I'm an avid skier and snowboarder, loving the mountains even more with a good layer of fluffy white stuff. So you might imagine my frustration.)

To keep me off the streets and on the snow for free, I decided to sign up for VASS (Vancouver Adaptive Snow Sports) as a volunteer. Basically they provide skiing lessons for disabled people, and volunteers are given the chance to have a great experience helping out. As I had been teaching skiing in the past I was naturally interested in teaching the disabled in change of a free ski-pass for the day. But what makes it even more interesting to me is, with my background of design engineering and specialism in Ergonomics and the medical field, the equipment that is used and the creative solutions that you have to come up with for each individual to get them safely and in a fun way down a slope.
Needless to say, I have been excited about this and even more after the training days I have just finished.

A rare sunny day.
View from the slope on the city. Breath taking!!
I mean, really!?
City and ocean can be seen from up here!
Sitski training. Fun!
Pretend your legs don't work too well.
Or pretend you only have one leg.
I nailed it!
Obviously I also went hiking again, also on New years Eve. Guess what you then do on top? Drink champagne of course! From a sandwich container or a zip-lock bag if you have no other option... 

Zip lock bags are awesome for everything,
even drinking Sekt!
Proost!
Even the raven posed
Some hikes were very icy due to the lack of snow
and warm temperatures
Although foggy and icy conditions,
it still totally beats a day in the office!
A 'selfie', sooooo 2013.
Some of the neighborhood and park lights are quite impressive here around winter times: 




Meet my boyfriend
The snow might not have been perfect in Whistler, but the weather certainly was! And good company makes every day in the snow great:






Christmas Turkey dinner: 



New years Eve party:

Can you spot the slush puppie machine?

And to end this post, this is how you get rid of frustrations about not having a job at the moment and not enough snow on the beautiful mountains: 




Ooookaaaaay, I'm not complaining at all. :-)


Monday, January 6, 2014

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!!

For those that I haven't reached yet, a bit late but I mean it none the less!: 


I hope you all had a great 2013, enjoyed the holidays with family or friends, survived new years eve with all your fingers (Seriously, there was no firework here in Vancouver, not even a sparkler!?) and that we will see each other again sometime in 2014!