Breakin the silence

It's been 2 months since my last blog, and a million things have happened. I mainly didn't blog because I was crazy busy. Coming back from fieldwork I had to catch up on almost 2 weeks worth of classes, plus a bunch of basic maths and physics that I've never learned properly and hadn't used in years. Fun times... not so much! I spent most of my weekends working on assignments, and not only didn't I have time to do anything, I was also lacking power and creativity. I produced exactly one little sketch since I got here, and am not happy with it, to say the least.
Things got a lot better in October though. More spare time, so I could finally start settlling in properly. Got a gym membership for my addiction, started doing some yoga again, enjoyed a Vancouver Symphony Orchestra concert, went to watch a few movies, tried some restaurants, pubs, and more. One thing I'm particularly happy with: My new bike, Ranger.

my new amazing friend Ranger

As you can see, he's a true beauty. Amazing color, perfect size for someone like me, who isn't exactly born to be a star basketball player, or reach things on the top shelf ;) Switching from Kettler Alurad to Maruishi wasn't too much of a step: Both brands seem to produce super light bikes. Of course Ranger's arrival doesn't mean I don't like my good San Juan anymore. But he's back home with the family, enjoying his retirement days, and resting so that he can give me rides on my Germany visits. I'm sure the two of them would get along quite well.
So far I haven't used Ranger a whole lot, mainly due to the fact that it's slowly getting more and more wintery. We've had a beautiful fall, with an apparently surprisingly large number of sunny, clear and cold days. Vancouver in the fall is simply beautiful, and I'm so excited to finally get proper fall colors, something that I really missed in Welly.

View from my porch on a cold morning a few days ago

Went for a really cool little hike in the snow last Sunday with a bunch of people from my lab, enjoying the sunny day and the view from the mountains. 6 people, 3 dogs, snow, sun and amazing lunch afterwards. I really don't need anything more. Only 3 days later, Kirsten and I went for an hour of skiing out to Cypress, making the most of our season passes. They only had one run open, and it was raining quite a bit, but it was fun nevertheless. When have I ever been skiing as early as Nov 9??? Earliest skiing ever, and will definitely be followed by more, now that I spent half a fortune on my season pass :)

Winter wonderland on our hike to Hollyburn Peak last Sunday

Kirsten and me doing some rain skiing

The successes of the week didn't stop with skiing: I finally got my phone back on Friday, after it had been in repair for several weeks. Fingers crossed that it will be ok now *knock on wood*. Also managed to call my grandma for her birthday, which hopefully put a smile on her face. Saturday was all about getting out of the city: Ted and his roommate took me on a fishing trip. The weather wasn't super awesome, but at least there was only a wee bit of rain, a lot better than in Vancouver. Fishing-wise we were unsuccessful, but it was nice to see Vancouver Island, Whistler, the mountains and just to be outside. I took my camera and went on a little photo exploration. A good way to get some artsy feelings out of my system, until I get around to finally buying some paint, brushes and canvases to get back into painting, which I have neglected since I left all my stuff in NZ. Pictures from the trip yesterday and some more Vancouver impressions I collected during the last weeks on Picasa, where I also made an album with fieldwork pictures, for those who haven't seen the pics yet.
In addition, flat hunting started this week. After telling our landlords early in the week that I will be moving out I started calling up people and going to flat viewings. Housing situation in Vancouver is very similar to Munich, and to some extent Wellington. There's a huge demand, and landlords can pretty much charge you a fortune for a crappy place, at least in certain areas. I wanted to stay reasonably close to UBC and downtown, and that of course on a limited budget. However, after only looking a 3 different places I got lucky: The ground floor of a cute little family home, 5 blocks from the beach, close to shopping, restaurants, cafes and major busroutes, between UBC and downtown. The house has a nice, south facing backyard, so I'm already looking forward to summer time! I'll be moving at some point in December, and my new roommate Susi will be arriving from Germany a couple of days before New Year's Eve. Good times ahead!
This semester ends in 3 weeks, and I'll be off to AGU in San Francisco for the first week of December. It's gonna be nice to catch up with everyone there! Hopefully I'll get around to giving another update before that, or otherwise for sure afterwards. Now it's time to get back to my cosy Sunday, finish baking cookies and living the good life! See ya all soon :)