~ ANNE! ~

so tired... so very tired. But at least it's been a varied and interesting day. I looked for jobs online, went swimming with John, went shopping with John, attempted to go look at a house twice (and succeeded on the second attempt) and got groceries. And wrote half a cover letter.

I was really not much in the mood to go swimming, but I'm glad I did. Cardio is always a good thing, especially at the moment. The pool was pretty crowded, which meant I was always overtaking people, which made me feel like a super-champion swimmer (even if I was just passing the 60-year-old guy in the Speedo on every lap). (He was also the reason I'm not too upset my swim goggles are kind of blurry). I almost quit 45 minutes in, though, when I had a sudden... upper body containment issue. That's right, a Janet-style wardrobe malfunction. Basically, I accidentally flashed the pool. (Old bathing suit= floppy straps). Hopefully everyone else's swim goggles are as blurry as mine. Next time I have money I will invest in a new swimsuit, so as to show more bathing suit and less birthday suit.

Went to see a house today. The guy asked me to come by at 7pm, and when I arrived there was no one home. ARGH. Went and called him from a payphone (I MISS MY MOBILE) and he said he was stuck at the airport, and could I come later? But once I managed to actually get access to the house (only to be greeted by a German in a chef's hat) the house was nice and the room was big and came with a bed. Two more to look at tomorrow, but I would not be averse to taking this first (should everything work out that way). We shall see. I want a home!

However, in the meantime I quite like crashing with Remkes and Steph. For one thing, they have a bed in their living room. For another, the view out the window is of the cranes working on building the University Hospital. Oddly fascinating, especially now that they have Christmas lights strung all over them. And the hospital itself says, "Peace on Earth".

Also, since I've been here I've had enough tea to drown a rat. Remkes has morning tea and evening tea (not to be confused with British "tea", which means dinner). We even had a Taiwanese tea ceremony yesterday. This involves pouring boiling water all over everything (over a tea tray, so it all drains out) and making little tiny pots of tea using the same leaves. Very soothing.

So the bars in Edmonton are now non-smoking. This is very exciting and in fact is one huge reason for staying in Edmonton for a while. You can breathe! In a bar! Amazing. Some places are getting around this bylaw by parking a bus outside their establishment for patrons to smoke in! Never say Edmontonians are not creative. ("Puff the Magic Wagon?!") Apparently this is legal if the bus is a
"legitimate vehicle". Sigh. But anyway, I will still rejoice because I really don't care if people feel the need to hotbox a bus, as long as they stay away from my lungs.