THE ONLY WAY IS UP

Do you know what the Oktoberfest in Muenchen and the Grouse Grind in North Vancouver have in common?

Both are competitions!
 Inside the beer tents you challenge your bladder; and kidneys.
At the Grind you challenge you inner demon and the clock.

If you don't have a clue what I am talking about, let me enlighten you. There are two ways to reach the top of Grouse Mt: You pay $ 39.00 bucks and get transported to the summit via the gondola - or, you rely on your leg and lung power to hike / run up a steep, nature trail into thin air.

 You can read more about it here - not about the beer, about the Grind that is!

Doing the Grouse Grind is what you do when you live here, if you like a good challenge and have nothing better to do on a late Tuesday afternoon, like we did!

 Surprise, surprise here, lots of people have nothing better to do with themselves at 5pm on a Tuesday afternoon!
If I can guess correctly, half of North Vancouver was trailing, huffing and puffing up the trail!

 

We overtook or were overtaken by young, old, fat, skinny, men and women alike.
Second surprise: we were in shock when we realized how steep and extreme the hike is! And I wanted to run this?
I must have been mad!

 One Chines couple even schlepped their 6 year old daughter up the trail - I have no idea what that was all about....

For some strange reason we decided to do it within the hour!  

And here we made it,  in 1hour and 7 minutes!

 

HOT, WET & STICKY vs COOL, DRY & COLOURFUL

As immigrants living in Vancouver we get the best of both world: Expensive Canada and cheaper America.
We get to celebrate Canada Day on July 1 and Independence Day on July 4th! Remember, we live just a skip, jump and roll down from the US border.
Canada Day was a sticky affair to say the least: We had over 30 degrees Celsius here in our neck of the woods.

Our plan was to be tourists in our new country and join the festivities at the annual Steveston Salmon Festival. Hurrah, our family plus 50.000 other fish loving, entertainment seeking families I might add. Were our boys excited about our planned event? To get pushed around, being hot, sweaty and sticky for the longest time?   Oh well, we as parents want to fit into the "awesome' category of our boys. Therefore, we decided doing what the boys rather wanted:

Here we are getting ready for our annual family tubing event down the Alouette river!






Skip three days and we are at Independence Day. The border was clear and Dominic and I set off to watch the fireworks  we missed during Canada Day. Here we are in BLAINE, literally 5 minutes across the Canadian border.

Upon arrival, we saw this:

Oops, that isn't a good sign, is it? Nevertheless, we are here now, we

 eat some delicious ice cream (check out their flavours),

hung out with the crowd,

enjoyed the sunset over White Rock

and watched some seriously amazing FIREWORKS!

As I just said, we are spoilt. The next big twosome will be in October and November:
Here in Canada we will celebrate Thanksgiving on the first Monday in October, 5 minutes across the border the same day is celebrated on the last Thursday in November! Go figure- we are in, one way or the other!

TO SING or NOT to SING

By now you know the residents of B.C. are extremely shop happy. They even sacrifice second Christmas Day and replaced it with "The Biggest Sale of the Year Event".  

Until yesterday I haven't really noticed they like to sing too. Given the opportunity, my new Canadian friends stand up tall and sing their National Anthem.

The end of June always marks the end of our school year and the beginning of eight weeks uninterrupted, blissful holidaying.
Our middle son had the honour to receive an Award for Most Improved Student and his mom was there to capture the moment.

Now, before our headmaster went on with his presentation, we got up and sang Oh Canada. (Which sounds lovely sung by 500 young children).
At moments like this I always face my inner, patriotic self: To sing or not to sing?
I am not Canadian, I will never become one-we might turn citizens, that doesn't mean we are Canadian.

Courtesy, manners and respect dictate to get up and be silent - no doubt about these rules.                But to sing? Assuming you know the words to sing along- , should we as non- Canadians?

During last year's Soccer Championship I made sure I  was on time to listen and watch the Live Feed of our National Team playing.
 I get all teary and wobbly in my knees when I listen to Deutschland Deutschland ueber Alles...   .And even with my own Anthem I don't sing! I don't cross my heart either.

I love our song- full stop. That's where the teary eyes come into. The wobbly knees? That might have something to do with men in shorts.

To sing or not to sing will be a question worth pondering during the next few days: On July 1 we  will celebrate Canada Day with all its glory and on July 4th we will hop across the border to find out how the other North Americans celebrate their day. During both occasions I bet their will be lots of flag raising and ....singing!

LADIES WHO LUNCH Part I

One glance at the glossy invite and my gut feeling told me, I shouldn't show up in Lower Mainland's most favourite attire - yoga pants and flip-flops! As always, the gut was right!

Yes, even here in Vancouver, the world's most relaxed, most beautiful, most unfashionable city of all, glamorous ladies are out and about; you just need to know where to find them!

Last week, after 1,5 years of living in Canada, I discovered a crowd which speaks fluid fashion:
I had the honour and privilege to be invited - and speak - at the inauguration event of                   Ladies Who Lunch

 at the Arbutus Club in Vancouver!

Here is the first of two parts,   THE PREP

Surely,  I was able to sprinkle some inspirational Christina Dust over the listening crowd . It was all about "Women living their Dreams, How can you inspire others to do the same?" The ladies were laughing and stopped eating, - that's always a good sign, isn't it??

Like most women I have a secret, and like most of us I like to share one of them with you here,
It took me less time to prepare and rehearse the speech than deciding on what NOT to wear, putting the colour into my hair and onto my body, buying earrings and the forever question of which shoes to slip on.

HAIR:
 Take a close look at my hair and you will see it's curly and grey!! Isn't grey the most persistent colour ever? Becoming older is fun, getting wrinkles is part of my (happy) life - getting grey hair? Give me four words to express myself, It p... me off!
Thank God there is a company out there who promises us to become Natural Browns again 'because we are worth it." What I want to know is, why is my favourite hair dye always playing hard to get whenever I need it most?

SKIN:
When it comes to skin tone, I tend to pale in with the Nicole Kidman's of this world. Being too pale is a big No-No, especially if you want to wear a knee length dress. Help is at hand: With the help of squeeze bottles we can squirt the perfect amount of mayo, chocolate paste, mustard, salmon pate or self tanning lotion onto our crackers,  pieces of bread or bodies!

For this particular get together I opted to involve a tanning specialist, Spray Tan anybody? Strip down, spread your legs, open your arms wide and let the fun begin!

SHOES:
 Carrie Bradshaw will faint if she opens my shoe closet. First of all, I don't have one and secondly, all she will find are runners, boots, sneakers, and flip-flops! High Heels? In your dreams Carrie.  Here is another secret I want to share, I can't walk on heels! I prefer to walk it flat and safe than sky-high with the risk of looking stupid! My choices were clogs(!) or sandals. Again, the gut decided on my behalf. A pair of sandals had the honour to lead me ....behind the podium!

It's all about the presentation - and when it comes to Ladies Who Lunch, it was all there>
Glamour, sparkle, a Good Cause and some serious fashion.

Stay tuned for Part II, the PHOTOS!

FRED & GINGER at STARBUCKS

I never had so many magic moments with complete strangers as I have here in Canada.

Moments initiated by random, funny, friendly comments. Most of the time these sound bites lead to more 'serious', still non - committal chit - chat with no hidden agenda. My encounters with strangers ranges from an encouraging "Want a ride?" (while I am running up the hill) to long drawn conversations; like the one I had the other day with a photographer in Fort Langley. The latest one in my collection of wonderful moments happened at Starbucks today!

The gentleman in front of me, a casually dressed, handsome, mid 50's guy placed his order. I didn't hear what he ordered exactly but I remember his answer when Starbucks girl asked him: "What is your name again?" Instead of the common Peter, Michael or Dylan response, he told her "Fred Astaire." Ha,ha, I thought that was funny. What was even funnier, Starbucks girl (in her late teens) wrote the name on his cup!



Hearing the dancers name brought flashbacks of happy childhood memories: Saturday afternoons spent in front of the tv, watching dance classics like "Shall we Dance"; Fred Astaire tap dancing across the silver screen with partner Ginger Rogers.
Right there and then, in the queue of Starbucks, I did a little dance routine, spread my arms out wide and yelled "And I am Ginger!"

Fred in front of me turned around, laughing. Ghee, he was happy to see his old dance partner again. Nevertheless, he needed to get it off his chest:"I remember you much taller." Which I retaliated with "Yes, with my dance heels on. Today I am with the bike, I am wearing Converse."

Dominic was laughing and so were all the other mid 40's present in the line up. The Starbucks employees still didn't get it! Sadly, they never heard about the most famous dance duo in movie history(or is that team Travolta/ Newton-John?). It all depends on how old you are.

The cashier got so confused that he handed Fred's change into my outstretched hand. He figured (rightly) Fred and Ginger belong together.

The moral of the story? If you are a middle - aged man (or woman) stay away from the young ones! They wouldn't even know the songs you whistle to - or you movies you used to watch. And how much fun can that be?

See ya 'tomorrow. We are off to the Rhodeo in Cloverdale.

OUR THREESOME hit ROCKBOTTOM

Day seven (of my personal writers challenge) marks my 7th episode, 8th season itch with special agent Jack Bauer (24)!



Yesterday saw the breaking point in my relationship with him, I fall asleep;  as soon as a man puts a woman to sleep, it's time to say Good-Bye! I rather knock it off right now  than sleep through the remaining 16 episodes. I prefer to dump him than wait for the grand finale.

All there is left to do is break the news as gently as possible to Dominic! . We were in it together! Both of us enjoyed our threesome thoroughly - ours wasn't a crowded marriage of convenience, it was a match made in heaven!

Jack was always there for us, he is the perfect host!  He never talks back, he knows how to entertain, he is witty and very problem solving oriented! Not once did he interrupt us. We on the other hand could pause and stop him any time we wanted to, with no hard feelings attached!

Thanks to Jack, Dominic turned into a fine agent himself. After 176 episodes his business brain turned into agent mode. With most accuracy Dominic can predict the outcome of any plot invented by writers anywhere. He even offers remarkable solutions to a pending nuclear attack - all from the safety of his own couch!

Now I remember why I like Jack so much, he reminds me of my husband when he still had hair!

Oh Jack, we had our good times together, 7040 minutes long to be precise! We watched an average of two hours daily, mostly past midnight; which turned us into compatible cast members for the Walking Dead.

Unfortunately, I violated my own rule to enjoy a party, 'leave at the height of your enjoyment'. Instead of taking one episode at a time, I turned into  an addict. I wanted too much!  I got my fingers burned, lost my appetite, and got bored! Sorry Jack, it's not you, it's me!

Dominic has to enjoy the action on his own, I might sneak in every so often, but as I'm concerned, it's over!

See ya tomorrow!

NIGHT SKIING, GROUSE MT.

Vancouver,  the city where you can enjoy snow skiing, ocean sailing and a round of golf in one day!

If you live the affluent way of life here on the west coast it looks like this:  you start your day with a round of golf, hop into your yacht or sailing boat and end the day with night skiing on one of the local mountains, followed by dinner in a five star restaurant.

If you live an active life on a shoestring budget, it looks like this:

A trail run in the morning (free), 50 laps at the local pool ($4.78), a husband who takes you on a date night skiing on Grouse Mt.(free again) and a dinner at Mc Donalds ($9,98 for two, with discount card).

During this winter season our children spent more time on their boards than we have. We figured it's about time we are going on a date night, skiing. Our boys are as happy being home alone, enjoying their freedom as we are enjoying ours. All they need is a pre-cooked dinner and a curfew (yes, I wish), all we need is a car and our gear.



The folks at Mt. Seymour and Cypress have all discounted their lift passes,- but no, Grouse holds on to his normal, pricey self. Bugger, but hey, they are the only ones still open during the week and for night skiing. Plus, they have a gondola which carries you to the top of the mountain.



Two weeks before the end of the season (April 28), they have three lifts running and promise 26 runs. They were right about the lifts, but I am not sure about the 26 runs. Somewhere between run 13 and 14 we lost count.



What I always suspected was confirmed yesterday: I am a 'perfect - conditions'-  kinda-skier. A fine layer of freshly snowed powder will do it for me nicely. Everything else is just torture. Or I am getting too old for that stuff -

Holy Moly, we had 16 degrees during the day. When we started our first run at 6pm the snow had melted and hardened- yeeks! Very icy, hard to ski on and painfull if gravity wins.



Like Mt. Baker, hardly anybody else was on the slopes; from the top to the bottom, free runs, burn, baby burn!



In my opinion, skiing up here is not a priority, you come her to enjoy the views- which are spectacular, breathtaking and magnifique! On a clear day you can see all the way across to Vancouver Island. When you ski down to the bottom, it feels like you are heading straight into the city, literally.



This is what we moved here for, to live the fabulous outdoors - shoestring budget or not! It can be done!

CAN YOU AFFORD TO LIVE HERE?

In my previous posts I mentioned the facts that Vancouver is the most beautiful and the least fashionable city in the whole world!    Now, a recent newspaper article has confirmed what we have long suspected: Vancouver is also the second most expensive city to live in - second only to Hong Kong (source:" Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey").



Was our judgement impaired when we decided to move here? For the fourth time in our life together we moved to an expensive place. First it was Sydney, then London, Bussum (a village in one of the most affluent areas in The Netherlands) and now Vancouver! We, the most price conscious of all couples, are attracted to expensive metropoles!

Let me clarify one thing, we don't live in the city per se. We live in the lower mainland area. Here, houses are affordable, nature is found in abundance and the Municipality is still debating if it is wise to put up street lights or proper road striping ( or side walks or cycle paths for this matter).



Over the years we have learned one thing: It is not the outside ( i.e. reputation), it is the inside ( i.e. quality of life) that counts and we are attracted to.

Where else can we ski, play golf and go swimming on the same day? Personally, I haven't lived through this particular scenario yet- the simple reason is, I don't play golf!.

After one joyful afternoon of reckless swinging, lost balls, many loose gras patches and a phenomenal high score I was rendered the 'loser'. That was it for me - I like to score high in order to win - the concept of low scores is nothing for me.

Can we afford to live here? Yes we can! Let me show you why: This is our 'backyard', sort of:

 A 45 minute car ride away you will find this:

 and this:



Living in and around Vancouver: As expensive or affordable as you wish - and always extra-ordinary!

RECOMMENDED CHARACTER TRAITS

for SUCCESSFUL IMMIGRATION INTO CANADA



A new year is about to start. Will it become a year to start a new life in a new country? If your goal is to immigrate to Canada, if your intention is to make a fresh, extra-ordinary start here in British Columbia and you want  to make this transition as smooth as possible, please take a minute to read through this compilation of character traits - you never know, it might helpI If you don't want to immigrate, no harm in reading further either.

The successful candidate

- Must be loaded in order to participate in the great outdoors (e.g. skiing in winter, zip-lining, golfing or sailing in summer).



- Should be a lover and admirer of casual wildlife found in their own backyard. We are talking bears, cougars, squirrels or deer. Needless to say, this doesn't apply to you folks in downtown Vancouver.

- A Master's degree in household economics and accountancy is required. Household and school excursion bills arrive on a regular, irregular basis. You need to stay on top of the situation and pay them on a regular, irregular basis.

- Can be deaf, or at least display a high threshold for beeping household appliances. I swear to you, every household item in our house beeps, rings or makes noise in one way or another. It beeps to let me know it's time to get up, to let me know the coffee is ready, the laundry is done or dry, the oven has reached its temperature or the microwave popcorn is ready. One word of warning, stay away from the singing egg timer! You will never hear the end of it! This egg starts singing after 5 minutes in boiling water and doesn't stop- even after you take it out of the water!

-  Can have a short attention span and a weak bladder when it comes to watching tv or going to the movies!  Leave it to program makers to interrupt any nail biting scenes to air commercials to tempt, educate, scare and annoy you! But of course, this is the perfect opportunity to hit the washroom (WC, toilet).

I have the sneaky suspicion movie theatres aren't worried about our bladder. All they care about is how much popcorn and coke they can sell to us during a break in an 80 minute long movie!  I might be wrong, just saying...

- Needs to redefine the European definition of cosy (England), gemuetlich (Germany) or gezellig (.Holland). Here, a cosy pub is situated within a purpose built building, displays an open fire safely tucked behind a glass wall and has several tv screens(?) running! (Exceptions are the rule)

- Should know exactly what one needs and hold a tight grip on the wallet. Temptation is all around us: "Deal of the week, Specials of the day, Groups of 4 Deal, January clearance sale, pre-sale, end-of-line-sale, liquidation sale, stock clearance sale, pre-Christmas sale, Boxing Day sale, Boxing week sale, summer sale, midweek sale, pre-Easter bargain, Halloween specials..."

On the other hand, it is your choice to be part of the consumer driven society or not!

- Doesn't necessarily need to speak fluent English. Mandarin or Punjabi will do just fine!

If you posses any of these characteristics, I highly recommend you pack your bags and come on over If you don't,  pack your bags.anyway. Regardless of what you just read and how it sounds like, our whole family loves it here in Beautiful British Columbia and we are looking forward to our next, extra-ordinary chapter her.

Whoever you are, wherever you might be, - whatever your decisions will be for the NEW YEAR, I wish you a HEALTHY, adventurous and prosperous 2013!



I am looking forward to connect to many more of you wonderful blogging and reading individuals. Warm wishes,

Christina

 

HAPPY FIRST ANNIVERSARY

Today, exactly one year ago, we arrived in Canada: Two adventurous parents and their three apprehensive children!

We had no job waiting for us, no network of friends to guide us, no family to support us, to colleagues to teach us. All we had was each other, five suitcases filled with clothes, five backpacks full of memories and the burning desire to make it 'happen 'in an English speaking country!
It was a year long effort to create our new life, to make new friends, to build a support network and to create our own job opportunity! Twelve months down the road I can raise my glass and say: "We made the transition, the first part of our mission is accomplished! All five of us are happy and settled. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!"

What are the extra-ordinary ingredients for a smooth transition from old to new?

For us it was / is a healthy dose of common sense, an open ear, being friendly, being open minded and most of all, the willingness to reach out and let everybody know we have arrived! Nobody will knock on your door! YOU have to go out there and knock on many different doors, to let everybody know the new girl / boy in town is here!
It is up to you to MAKE IT HAPPEN!
To stick to the Christmas theme, I let these two photos speak for themselves to demonstrate our transition from
"Just ARRIVED":



to "HAPPILY SETTLED:"



P.S. Vegetarians, please forgive me!

10-10-10

This is my tenth blog, this is our tenth month in Canada and here are 10 wonderful adjustments we made to our previous, European life:

                      

No more random ‘drinking’!

I am still not over it and have to stress it over and over again: The liquor prices are ridiculously high!  Just looking at them makes my eyes water! If we want to stay on track with our immigration fund, we have to suck it up: Intoxicating liquids are for special occasions only.  Luckily, there is always something to celebrate! On the other hand, the big bonus is when you have a spontaneous get together, everyone brings their own grog!

Coffee – to – Go! 

“When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” True to this saying I am blending in: My thermos filled with delicious home brewed blend follows me wherever I go.

Cycling

My bike has turned into a tool for recreational purposes only. Gone are the days when I used it purely for transportation. Blame it on the distances! The upside of conquering the steady inclines and steep declines? It beats an indoor spinning class any day!

Let it rip

Not any more- at least not on the Autobahn. The speed limit on highways is between 80 - 110km/h. No wonder it takes forever to get anywhere.  Surprisingly, hardly anybody drives within these limits, but still enough drivers do and it forces us to slow down!

Good-bye repairman / Hello handy husband

No more expensive maintenance and replacement costs for household appliances. Follow these simple steps to get your new part within 24 hours (written from the mechanically challenged woman’s view):

Let your husband find out what’s wrong with your dead appliance.                                                                                           

     Take out the broken part, find the serial number, order and pay for the item over the phone, pick it up the next day and let your husband finish what he started!  

The following is the Dutch or German protocol for getting an appliance fixed:                                       

  Make a phone call, stay on hold for at least 10 minutes, make an appointment, (lucky you if you  get a date within 5 working days) and receive an allocated time slot for the repair man to show up e.g. between 9-12pm. On day in question take time off to stay at home, (don’t leave the house for any reason whatsoever!), the repair man arrives (normally at 11.55am), he will fix the part - or order a new one- which can take up to 10 days and he leaves. If your appliance doesn’t have warranty anymore you are stuck with the bill for the repair man and the new part. Oh, and I nearly forgot: Ladies, no chitter chatter with the friendly repair hunk, keep to the bare minimum: Companies will charge you for every minute their representative spends in your house!

 

Asian Influence

 Our fourth official language at home is now Korean (next to English, German and Dutch).                                        

    We added chop sticks to our array of forks and knives.                                                                             

    Our children are getting a beating in the daily ping-pong tournaments. But in time they will get better and will be champions in their own (Caucasian) League.

Bargain shopping

As I mentioned in “The Move”, costs of living are high.  But here is another trick learned while being the conscientious housewife: Collect coupons and follow the trail of weekly deals!

 Value Village is a paradise found. It’s my favourite spot to go whenever I have some time to kill (a community charity store with everything you can imagine on offer - and more).

Shopping across the border is much cheaper in every possible category. If only the border control officials were friendlier...

Lessons learned: The local Farmers Markets are for treats and not for stocking up on fresh fruit and veggies! Of course you can buy your heart out if you truly believe in supporting the local producers of organic, pesticide free goods – bear in mind you will be charged up to 4x the common prices.

Emergency Help

If one of your children happens to break an arm (as our youngest son did), go straight to the Children’s Hospital in Vancouver. Don’t waste your time with any other hospital which doesn’t have a paediatric department! Simple reason: the anaesthetist won’t treat your child- the risks are too high if they are not trained and specialized. In our case we received calming (morphine), soothing pain relief (gravol) but had to travel to another hospital to receive special care (an operation on our son’s arm)!

Added sugars

When you take the time to read food labels you will notice that most pre packed food items have additional sugar added to it. In order to get back to my former, tight, 6-pack tummy I was forced to start cooking again with fresh ingredients only. I never said I am a Martha though...

TV in small doses

We stopped watching regular TV! The frequency of commercials is driving me crazy! I prefer Netflix: You pay $8.oo/month and have access to TV shows, movies, documentaries... whatever the heart desires. The disadvantage: They are not new, but the big Plus is, no commercials and no week long waiting time to watch the next episode. Our first addiction was “Prison Break”- (we are talking long, long nights, every night for three short weeks). To this day it still puzzles me how anyone could stand the suspense and wait one week for the next episode? Our next Netflix project is “Damages” – which falls under our category of “a great night in!”

These were truly 10 wonderful, extra-ordinary months. Have you made any adjustments recently? Do you have thoughts to share? Please let me know! I would love to hear from you!

Until the next time – with an update of one of my favourite events of the year: Halloween!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FAMILY REUNION

Since the beginning of September we are the proud parents of our fourth boy and our children are the proud brothers to a brother from a different mother and father. I am talking about Joey, our Korean exchange student who will live with us for the next 10 months. If this wasn’t enough to adapt to, my parents from Germany arrived at roughly the same time for their first ever visit to Canada.

This is what you need to know about these two grey, but still highly active grandparents:



My father speaks basic English only, my mom speaks none. My husband speaks only English and with my parents limited English skills the three of them form a harmonious trio. I often wonder why my parents haven’t taken a language course at Community College!  Let’s hear the logical reason from my mom:”Why doesn’t Dominic (aka husband) learn German instead?”

My Dad conveniently forgot his driving licence for this trip, my mom doesn’t drive at all. They brought a Vancouver travel guide, but so far forgot to open it.

Therefore, I am the chosen tour guide. For the last two weeks Mrs. Google and Mr. Tom-Tom have been my closest friends - together we navigate the big unknown!

My parents are still young enough, very active, healthy enough and like going places. My mom is right when she says: “We didn’t come all this way just to sit at home.”

Needless to say, life as I know it has come to a standstill. I don’t know about you, but with my parents to visit I am doing things I normally wouldn’t consider doing - like sitting in the BIG RED TOUR Bus, exploring the sights in Vancouver.  But I must admit, sitting on top of the bus was an eye opener. Now I know that Vancouver is not big, not old, not historic, but its beauty comes from its location: The scenery is mind boggling wherever you look!



On Granville Island Dad was magically drawn to the Kaiserhaus Bratwurst und Sauerkraut. But surprisingly he opted for the sweet sour Chinese noodles instead. He recognized the dish from his Chinese restaurant back in Germany. My German Mom, the more adventurous part of the duo, opted for French Crepes (?) instead.

I also persuaded them to go on a beautiful bike ride along the river dykes in our neighbourhood. This round trip normally takes me three hours, but with my active 60 plus bikers in tow it took us nearly six hours! I must hand it to my mom: after cycling during the immense lunch time heat, after giving her German buns a grilling workout and her hard assed daughter only allowing one pit stop, I only heard her complain once! Aren’t they amazing? I am exhausted, I don’t get things done, and our children have to walk home from school alone because I am so preoccupied with their grandparents.

The only ongoing complaints about their trip are the ridiculously high prices for alcohol. This German couple can’t refuel on coffee and hot chocolate alone! And when they finally find a pub they get a near heart attack when they receive the bill for two pints of beer: $16.00! With this fatal beer experience they figured: “We could have gone to Scandinavia instead – drinks are as expensive there, but we are much closer to home!” Of course they are kidding, they won’t find their grandchildren there!

After two weeks of non-stop action I finally followed Dominic’s advice: I will put them on the train with the city map in my father’s hand.  Mom remembers the one place closest to her heart: Robson Street!  A happy place for strolling shopaholics!

On this note I will raise my glass to my very extra-ordinary parents who have their flaws, their die-hard habits and who can drive me crazy to say the least!  But they are my parents, I feel very blessed to have them- and I love them for who they are.

SELL YOUR HEART OUT

First things first:

To kick-start my fight against middle-age weight gain, wiggly upper arms and excess handles on my tummy I started using weights and went "Cold Turkey" to lose at least some weight. It seems to take forever to get any changes done in the body!                                                                                          Puh, getting older is a bitch! ! But, defeat and acceptance are not in the cards - yet!

My book should be at the publisher by now but instead I got stage freight and added more bits, deleted and replaced some. Embarrassment is a big motivator at this stage in my life!  Being embarrassed because I haven't done my best!                                                                                          I have gone through this stage when I was way younger, not any more.                                              Now It needs to be as good as it gets or even better.Therefore I want to have a polished and finished product before I will hit the route to promotion!

I am still in the industry I love best: Selling!                                                                                        For years I was selling aerobic moves across fitness centers around the world and its benefits to health.                                                                                                                                                       Then it was coffee and cakes at Strawberry Lounge, my debut into entrepreneurship and  now I am back to selling cakes again!                                                                                                                         This time as an employee for a wonderful, sweet cake company in Vancouver!     Having sold lots of things around the world, I noticed one  universal law that can be applied all over:   Apart from being appreciated and wanting to feel special ( being extra-ordinary!),  WE ALL LOVE A GOOD DEAL!                                                                                                                                                          This makes for a very straight forward equation:                                                                             selling is a piece of cake - if you sell a product people want, appreciate and love! Selling at a good price makes it even easier, fun and more worth your while. In my current 'job 'the product speaks for itself:           You don't need a hard-core persuasion technique. You don't need to go into a long drawn conversation about the pros and cons and necessity of the cake.           You either want it or you don't. You like the taste of it or not!  You have an allergy or not!  All you need is to give an encouraging word at times, some information from the ingredients list,  or to simply stand back to let your customer make up their own mind!    It is that simple! I have been very fortunate so far to gravitate toward selling what I really, really like.  But  be warned, it is only easy-peasy if you love the product and the initial selling process.

If you are able to do what you love doing, then life can be your "piece of cake!"