Thirtyeight

So the hilarity of our housemates continues--

Sean and Micheal, two opionated fast spoken whitty men who seem to have imense enthusiasm for renovating.

I walked upstairs not to long ago into a heated debate as to who would win a race out of Superman or The Flash. Havig such evidence as "superman flew to Kryptonite so he is obviously faster than the speed of light, so he would win for sure!" i knew i was well out of my depth to contribute.

Other conversations arise over and over-- like the development of the kitchen- The new "focet", the island bench construction and the moving of the stove. Who knew how many conversations could be had on such matters. We left the house on Saturday at a reasonable hour on "moving stove day" just as they were drilling through floorboards, only to return once it was pitch dark. There was no power and the boys had managed to drill 5 large holes through the floorboards. We thought we would leave them quitely to it..

The University has big precast concrete studios that initially feel cold, but once you settle in for the third 5 hour studio session for that week, the studios takes on a rather 'second home' type feel. There is stuff everywhere and you never know what you are going to find once you walk through the doors in the mornings, an addition of a couch, discarded christmas trees - the school is your oyster. The Studio is set up completely differently from UniSA, each person has there own space which consists of a Giant drawing table, a locker which doubles as a large desk and a stool. Though most people tend to also have lamps, posters, photos, arm chairs, milk crates, blankets, sleeping bags, extra tables.. it is really their first home, not the second.

I was talking to one guy who I sit next to, and he was telling me how he comes in everyday as its easier that way rather than having a day off and trying to get into the momentum again. yer. these guys are intense... When I was being given a guided tour I was shown the warmest place in the school to sleep- over the heating vents in the halls, though I was warned to put a blanket under my face as not to risk getting squares burned into my cheeks from the grates.

But nontheless the subjects are interesting and the Studio tutors a bit to nice. I get asked more about Sean Godsell and the Opera house more than my designs. Though hopefully that will wear off with the 15 hours of mandatory studio (in Studio.. doing actual work) we have each week..

Thirtyone

So its been a damn long time since our last post and we apologise..

so much has happened- its 2010 now.. and we have been in ol' Ottawa town for a month today! one month down. By saying that it's not said we're counting the days 'til we leave. We like it here, lots, but OH DEAR we also miss Adelaide (and Sweden..)

New years we trecked to Montreal to a seedy little hostel (stained sheets and all..) to celebrat the coming of the new year. We ended up in a pretty amazing bar/club that conveniently had an open tab until almost midnight. Twas a lovely evening of dancing, drinking, singing, nipping and one yelled conversation - That turned dramaticly in the end to coat check hounding, worrying, one bitch slap, snow and tears. However, all is made better over greasy kebabs-- in the most classy of ways!

But i must say-- the crit for Montreal- a lovely city, beautiful, cozy, damn fine people (but not as damn fine as in Toronto - T adds), and much more french than anticipated. We shall be back.

Other than that we have continued to explore Ottawas Galleries and canals- of which we are assured shall be open for ice skating soon. The biggest news however is that we have started uni at Carletons Azrelie School of Architecture and Design. and so far it has been great- the people are unbelievebly friendly to the point that some people seemed genuinely sad when we had to switch from thier class to another.. odd, but lovely nontheless.

Twenty

Our banks slogan is.. wait for it..





"You're Ritcher Than You Think.."





oh dear..

so far, freezing rain is not fun, especially not when out walking in the park with your back facing the wind/rain. Only to realise first you turn around that the wind/rain is now facing you, and its like somone takes tiny tiny knives to it, (maybe akin to the indian in the cupboad kinda size) except of course they are ice. But! ice does incredible things! you no longer walk along paths, you glide! snow that looks like snow has a hard crunchy layer. Trees take on a second skin with each individual branch getting a cocoon 5 mm thick of clear, clean ice! And when the light shines on it, its truely stunning. Its like the light is disfused in complete different directions and then bounces of the next branch until the whole tree is glimmering! and they sound different too, when the wind blows the branches they crack!

Eighteen

Christmas ey? a time long ago when Jesus was born so we now celebrate santa. love it.
Nither of us are religious and santa seems somewhat of a kitch substitue to hold a Holiday for. It seems christmas is more a time when we spend far to much on presents and liquor and eat our body weight in food. but most of all its about sitting down with the people you genuinly love and care for and celebrating the bounty of friendship, family and lovers.
So for Tora and i we had to be all of this rolled up into one for each other (oh the joy of being on the other side of the world) which might i add went amazingly well- we didnt end up making out or bringing up embaressing childhood stories, instead we got ate and drank until the wee hours of the morning talking about all things dear and nothings in our basement.
expectations are a huge thing and i find that christmas and new year in general are held at standards pretty redicolusly high for one day of the year. This year we have completely lowered the bar on all expectations and are taking things as they come- something that i think we should do more often. And for that Christmas now went more smoothingly amazing than either of us could possibly imagine. We are looking forward to New Years.. i think.

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After a day of doing pretty much nada, we took our tired hot asses out of our little dungeon downstairs and walked the 10 metres outside the house to the bus stop, prepared for a random night. We jumped on the first bus and after 25 minutes of random turns, we got off and accidentally met Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law (no complains there). We all spend the night hanging out, laughed, talked and enjoyd the cool breeze of the winter weather. Thanks for the english accent and pleasant company. Both Ellen and I did really like the turn-out of the night.

Sixteen

So we have reached our destination of apartment one, 222 First Street, Glebe, its a pretty cozy little crib with exposed brick in our basement living room, dimmers in our bedrooms with low ceilings, photos now on the walls, kitchen with an amazingly creaky wooden floor, a tiny bathroom and two housemates who seem to keep on giving (we got an xbox two minutes ago). It seems like Christmas is well and truely here with the snow, Van playing in the lounge, trackies, baking trays at the ready for tomorrow which shall well and truely be an incredible day of domestisity followd by some imense eating ahh it shall be great to cook again. After so long of tinned soup and yogurt it shall be nice to have a sweeding smorgasboard infused with.. australian christmas food?? im not sure. but im certain it shall be delightful.

I was asked today what Canada was like-- so i thought that perhaps it was time to give a low down on the sights and smells that makes up this fine country.
Flying in over Vancouver was incredible, the receeding horizon made up entirely of meyandering rivers Islands that peak into mountains that go on forever convered in every shade of white you can imagine.
In Ottawa the paths range from being covered entirely in snow, that turns to slush, which turns to giant puddles subsequently redicolusly large shoes are needed to keep your toes from quite litteraly falling off. the parks are always covered in snow and look incredibly romantic (even without a man by your side).
This place isnt only snow and -20 degrees, the people here are pretty lovely. more than once we have been offered free meals, drinks, christmas dinners by complete strangers or near enough. i dont know if its our accents, which always is immediatly assosiated with being from the UK or whether the people here are just generally trusting and kind. i think we'll go with the latter.
It seems like Canada is fairly similar to Australia though, a British Colony that is now stuggling to keep there own micilanoius migrant identity with the ever influencing US of A.
Otherwise a few things- its customary, rather not unusual, for people to have bedrooms in the basement or attic (we live in a basement. and we love it).

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anyhow there is far more to write on this matter of Canada but for now we shall say goodnight.

Thirteen

..Not all sides of Toronto are pretty, yesterday we ended up in a pretty dodgy area trying to find this place that sells old recods since T has found some amazing records for under a dollar each we now have to find a player. Both of us have been in some pretty sketchy places around the world, dodgy avenues, but this neighbourhood proved to stir some uncertianty. Many odd looking charaters, windows with alot of bars across them, some pretty racid vomit left on the side of the road (that by the cold had nicely freezed). But hey we survived, found the store, didn't buy anything and promptly took a cab (with yet another wierd cab driver) back to the brighter side.

The night started with drinks (what else?). Way too sweet ones by the way, but we managed. For a while. Karaoke (x2, we kind of got forced..) was the theme for the night. Smoke machines. Two big "pitchers" of beer, which resulted in an intimate encounter with the cold stone floor of the lovely "washrooms". A free shot at the bar (sneaky sneaky). 2 free moosehead t-shirts (thank you S). And for last a very short walk home, though E wanted to hail a cab. We think random is a good word to summon the night.

E met up with some old friends i travelled with in Madagascar this morning which was lovely. After two years we all connected like old times (i guess thats what you get when you live with people in a third world country for three months, you bond rather well). Meeting up with them was amazingly refreshing. Seeing old faces who hadn't changed, but yet have acheived so much and who are still headed in such inspiring directions, was just lovely.
It's something to love about travelling, reconnecting with people and meeting new ones. People who are doing things completely different from you. You know, people who have their own lives, own interests and own stories. It's great connecting with people who have different avenues in life you learn so much, about them, the world, people, places, but also yourself. How you can talk about things that don't usually probe your concious train of thought question, find conclucions, or for the most part more questions.

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Oh, and by the way - Niagara Falls (and the town) was thumbs up x2. We gotta love the vintage stores.

Ten

Wandering- how else when exploring a new city. seriously nothing beats following your own nose and getting lost along the way. You end up talking to people filming gatorade ads, others who have odd stories about when they were taught by Peter Einsman, or men who are just cuddly and Russian looking and know where giant giant Christmas trees reside. You get lost and go beyond the Tourist attractions of Sky towers and Ghery Galleries and see Houses that have no disguises, that have seen the time long before us and conveys it in their facades. Streets with character that ooses from the peeling paint and the slightly creepy man who is picking up the rubbish along the side of the road. For what reason in a neighbourhood no one seems to go? (besides lost tourists from Australia..)

I think this is where a citys true colours shine, places that are not there to be seen, that exist for living and whithout pronouncing there precence with a sign that depicts its purpose and meaning.

Another amazing thing about new cities is exploring coffee stores (even if the coffee here is absolute non-drinkable) nothing quite beats finding a cozy cafe that smells of beans once you have been battling wind and snow for 20 minutes. Lost.

We have definitely utilized this service, sat in cafes for hours drinking, reading, drawing, picture taking, talking about everything and nothing. Nothing. Just listening to the sounds surrounding.

So far it has been fun.

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Tomorrow to the tourist mecca of Niagra Falls (that is also a city.. yet to be explored).