HiEveryone

Here I am again with little a write-up from Nova Scotia, though I'm ... at least for the time being not traveling. I would still like to keep you a bit up to date of my life in Canada. And so I will try to regularly to place a story with some photos. I understand that many of you are wondering what Wolfville, Nova Scotia, is like so here a few tidbits. Wolfville, is located on the Minas Basin, which is a part of the Bay of Fundy. And as I have told before the bay of Fundy is known for the greatest tidal differences in the world, up to 16 meters in some places every day. Wolfville, itself is a small town with about 3800 inhabitants and, the main street is close to the water and many houses are built up against the hills overlooking the Minas Basin. For 8 months of the year the amount of people doubles with students who study at the Arcadia University. So far it is nice quiet in Wolfville, with the exception of the tourists, but I'm curiouswhat it will be like when the students come back somewhere this week, because classes will start again next week.

The University is 173 years old and was founded with the idea that it had to be accessible to everyone. The University is highly regarded because of the level and manner of teaching. Wolfville, is located in the Annapolis Valley, the valley is protected by two mountains creating a kind of micro climate with milder temperatures than other places in the province. Therefore there are many farmers here grow vegetables and fruits, especially apples. A lot of Dutch farmers live in this area, I haven't met that many Dutch people but I do recognize many typical Dutch names.

My apartment is located on the hill in a quiet area, it's about a 10 to 15 minute walk to downtown and my work. And in this neighborhood there are not too many students. I do not have the magnificent view of the water but about a 5 minute walk from my apartment there is a small park with two water reservoirs with a small beach. The neighbors in this building is a mixture of young and old and very friendly, on the one hand lives Sue a 60 year old woman who works at the hospital in Wolfville and on the other hand lives Tom in his late twenties and his girlfriend who has an apartment above him. Tom work as sous chef at the University and helped me to an interview with the chef at the University. As some of you already know the job at the restaurant is not quite what I had hoped and I do not really feel at home in this kitchen, so I am already looking for something else. And with a bit of luck I might have a job in at the University, I just need to wait for the one who is in charge of hiring staff, she just returned from vacation.

So, and what do you do in your spare time, well a bit of exploring the surroundings, such as picking blackberries in the park. However, the next time I'll have to protect myself a bit better with bug spray and long sleeves, because without this it's not very funny. Once you stopped to pick some blackberries you'll get attacked by hungry mosquitoes.

Oh yes and I had another adventure with keys. I went out for an evening listening music. The friend of a colleague of mine needs an operation and they held a benefit to raise money, there were lots of local artist and a raffle with some nice prices and I was lucky to win some tickets for the deep root festival in Wolfville next month. Oh well, after a pleasant evening I came back to my apartment and realize that I had the wrong key, it is the one off the laundry room and that does not fit on my front door. Mmmm, now what ... Fortunately, I have the window of my bedroom open and if I can remove the screen maybe I can climb inside. When I arrive at my window I realize that it can be somewhat difficult, because the window is about two meters from the ground. I can't remove the screen from the window opening but eventually I manage to remove the mesh, by now, I have found a bucket to stand on. But now I have to pull myself up to the window and then push myself up to be able to climb through the window. And I have nothing to hold on to on the inside. O ...O, how do I get in ...? Wait I can use the bucket and compost container as a stepping stone. Mmmpfff after some stumbling I am inside and I can open the front door. Just after I've put everything back into place and fixed my screen again my neighbour comes home. Fortunately, no one has seen or heard anything Pffffeuh because what if someone had called the police, which would have been something trying to explain all of this. The only thing now is to explain the many bruises on my arms, what is it with these keys???? I'm glad that the weather is still nice, because what if there was a lot of snow ...

Other than that I still regularly visit Anna and George on the farm where I have helped a few weeks before I had my apartment. And if I want I am welcome to pick some vegetable from their fields whatever I need. And so I still occasionally help a bit with the tofu. From a colleague I received a load of apples which I made into apple compote and I was able to fill several jars with it. And so I am starting to take over some of the Canadian habits pickle fruit and vegetables for the winter.

O ... and this time I made some photos of my apartment and environment so that you have a bit of an image from where I stay now.

So far my little update, talk to you next time, Gabrielle