Merry Christmas!!

We just wanted to wish all our friends and family a very Merry Christmas. We wish you all a holiday filled with love, joy, and happiness. We miss you all and are sad we aren't able to see you this Christmas, but you are in our thoughts and in our hearts.

Christmas comes but once a year

Wow, it's almost Christmas (T-10 days, or T-6 days of work). It just doesn't feel like it, probably because it rains all the time here, has been surprisingly mild, and we're away from our families and friends. However, we are trying to get into the holiday spirit and have put up some decorations, lights, and our tree. So I thought I'd take this opportunity to show all of you what Christmas looks like at our place:

Our tree (it's small, but it's there)

Our living room window (inside the house)

Our Christmas corner in our living room

Our living room window (outside)

Our front door

Our front entrance window

Semester one is done!

Well Chris finished his first semester of grad school yesterday. It actually feels like it went by quickly, which is good because we'd really like to get back to Toronto and our family (well Bambie's) and friends. Now he has 3 weeks off before second semester starts, however it won't all be spent playing Xbox (contrary to popular belief). He has to start working on his thesis idea and doing some research for a class he has. On top of that, I keeps bugging him to get a seasonal job. No rest for the wicked!

Oh, as a follow up to all those following the shingles saga, I'm back at work now and have been for a week. The shingles are stubborn little fellas and are still there, healing, but not causing any pain or itchiness (thank goodness!).

Yay and nay

Yay - I have a couple days off work!!! Get to sleep in, wear sweatpants all day, it's pretty sweet. Why, do you ask? Because...
Nay - the shingles are still here, and progressing slowly at that. I go to have them looked at on Wednesday morning to see if I can work, but a doctor at work that's been monitoring them thinks I'll be off all week. You see, they're still in the 'contagious' stage and since we see lots of children and pregnant women, the clinic just doesn't want to risk me giving someone chicken pox. So I've got xylocaine ointment now for both the pain (which has been at an all-time high) and the itching (not too bad anymore and I guess it helps that it hurts when I itch so I just don't do it). Just numbs the area. I must say, it works, and feels tingly in the process!

At least it's not Mono!

A week ago I (Bambie) went to my doctor with rib pain as well as a very sore throat that felt swollen, and sore lymph nodes. After some questions and investigating my doctor thought I may have Mono (really???? I haven't gone around kissing people), so I had a blood test. Now, having blood drawn is usually a very unpleasant experience for me as my veins are tiny, usually collapse, and nurses have to use a child's needle and poke me a bunch of times. I decided to suck it up, and with Chris as my support, went to have the bloodwork done. I was in awe of the nurse. She was able to get the vein on the first try and draw the blood using an adult needle. However, more than a week later, I'm still bruised!

So I had to wait a week for my next doctor's appointment. In the meantime the sore throat resolved and I started to get itching on my torso where the rib pain was. A couple of days later I noticed a rash, which has progressed into...SHINGLES! UGH!

Aren't they lovely? And they're suppose to get worse. Yuck!

You can only get shingles if you've already had chicken pox. Who knew having chicken pox as a child would come back and bite me in the ass 19 years later.

I was sent home from work today because it can be contagious (if you haven't had chicken pox) and dangerous to the elderly and pregnant women (after I checked in a pregnant woman I may add - hope she'll be ok!) but should be ok to work on Monday. Until then it's taking all my will power not to scratch, and calamine lotion is my new best friend.

Luckily Chris had chicken pox as a child so he can't catch anything from me.

Our new nephew

Although there's nothing exciting going on in our neck of the woods, there is on the other side of the country so we thought we'd share that news.
Our nephew, Henry Christopher Sherwin, was born at 1:15am (Pacific Time) on November 19, 2008, weighing 8lb 8oz. He's such a cutie!!! We can't wait to meet him.

Congrats to the proud parents, Mike and Emily, big sister Ruby and big brother Leo! We love you!

Mardi Gras

Every year around Halloween St. John's holds a 2 night Mardi Gras festival on George Street. The street is closed off and you pay entry to the street which gives you admission to all 22 pubs/bars/clubs on George Street. They have live music, a costume competition, and you can drink on the street. We went Saturday night dressed as a French Maid and a hippie. Chris wanted an original costume but because he couldn't think of anything, went as what I felt would be the easiest, and cheapest costume. As it turns out, he was the only hippie there so it ended up being original after all. For myself we again went with an easy and cheap costume so I was a French Maid. Of course there were a bunch of French Maids but I wasn't too concerned, I didn't really care how original mine was.

We watched the costume contest and cheered our favourite costume onto victory, bar hopped to about 10 out of the 22 bars, people and costume watched, and had a fun time. Sadly it would have been better with more people in our group as well as if we were drinking as all the drunk people seemed to be having an amazing time. However it's a St. John's event that we can say we experienced.

Us in our costumes

Nominees on stage

Best costume winner: pterodactyl

Cape Spear

This past weekend we took a trip to Cape Spear, about 20 minutes outside of St. John's. It was warm and sunny, a perfect day to be outside. As mentioned in our last post, Cape Spear is the most easterly point of land in North America. It is also the location of the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland and Labrador. Cape Spear is absolutely beautiful. You are right on the cliff - in some places you have to look over the ledge to see the waves crashing against the rocks and in others it's right infront of you. It is very easy to get mesmorized by the powerful waves and I took countless photos. Chris commented, 'so you're a fan of the waves?' First of all, photography speaking, they make excellent shots. Secondly, it's just awesome to see them crest or crash against rocks. There were alot of "oh" and "aw" moments.

There are 2 lighthouses at Cape Spear, the original and the one that's now in use (I think). The old one is not how I imagined a lighthouse to be; it wasn't tall and slender but rather a square, two-storey structure, with the light tower itself in the middle of the building. Parks Canada's website says the old lighthouse has been refurnished as a light keeper's residence to the period of 1839 but we weren't able to get in (it's only open from May 15 - October 15).There is also a WWII gun battery there with underground passages to various rooms and gun emplacements. The barracks are built right into a hill and really well hidden.

You can also whale watch at Cape Spear but we were too late in the season for that (seems to be a pattern with us) so we'll return in the summer. As well, Liam told us we should see the sunrise in Winter at Cape Spear so we'll make another trip there this winter.

Not sure where we'll visit next...

The old/original lighthouse

Us infront of the new lighthouse

The WWII barracks

We can only go West from here

What a view!

Just after the waves hit

The waves hitting the rocks

When in St. John's...

...we're going to various cultural or historic sites. We've been to one so far, Signal Hill, and we've gone twice! Signal Hill was the reception point of the first transatlantic wireless signal by Guglielmo Marconi in 1901, as well as the site of harbour defences for St. John's from the 18th century to the Second World War.

A plaque at Signal Hill commemorating the first transatlantic wireless signal.

The first time we went to Signal Hill it was extremely foggy and windy and we had no idea what we were missing out on.

Cabot Tower, St. John's most visible landmark, was used for signalling until 1960.

The second time we went it was sunny and warm out, and when we got to the top of the hill we were amazed at the view. We could actually see the ocean and the cliff!!! I was disappointed we didn't see any icebergs. We walked along a trail that winded along the hill (I'd say it's a cliff) and saw some great scenery.

What a difference!!

Next site - Cape Spear, home of the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the most easterly point of land in North America.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This thanksgiving's a bit strange for Bambie as it's the first time she's away from her family for thanksgiving, but we were lucky enough to have friends (Liam and Amanda) visiting their families who invited us to join them for thanksgiving. We had thanksgiving lunch on Sunday at Liam's parents' house - it was great to have a turkey meal with all the fixin's as well as friends and their families to spend time with. It broke the monotony of our daily lives, gave us something to look forward to, and provided us with some comfort away from home. We really appreciated them inviting us into their home and looking after us.

This year we're thankful for our families; we're thankful to have our parents with us, to have brothers and sisters that we are close to, and to have so many nieces and nephews to love (and spoil!). We're also thankful for our friends; you are always there for us, whether if it's for advice, a shoulder to cry on, someone to laugh with, or to provide us with some sanity (or should we say insanity). Both our families and friends have been very supportive during our move to St. John's and we're thankful for that. Your support has helped ease this transition. Lastly, we're thankful for eachother; we give eachother strength, hope, friendship, and companionship.

We wish all our friends and family a very happy thanksgiving. We love you all.

Officially becoming Newfies

Today we went and got our Newfoundland and Labrador driver licences as well as registered our car and received our Newfoundland and Labrador licence plate. It's weird not having our Ontario plates on our car anymore, it was kind of a way to show that we're still Ontarians and show our solidarity to Ontario. And I liked having Ontario ID, plus I actually liked my Ontario licence photo. I don't like this licence photo at all, and Chris isn't fond of his either. Take a look for yourself.

I promise I did not have a side ponytail!

It just looks so wrong!!!!

Hi Zachary!!!

I thought I would put the main purpose of this blog to use and send a shout out to Zach. I miss you alot and I can't wait to see you on Tuesday. We'll get to spend so much time together and do lots of fun things! I love you!!!!

Home Sweet Home

We're living in a 2 bedroom, above ground basement apartment. It's really nice and quite big. Chris made the decision on it by himself while visiting St. John's for a little over a day and while it was difficult for me to trust him to find us a place, I had no other choice. He made a good decision!!! Please excuse the bareness, our furniture and other belongings have yet to arrive. Once we have the place set up, we'll update the photos.

Our house

View when you walk in the front door

Kitchen

View from the kitchen

Living Room

Laundry room once we get our washer and dryer

Bathroom (off of the laundry room)

Master bedroom

The second bedroom which will be Chris' office, or study, which will double as a guest room when we have vistors (which we will have, right???)

We made it!

We're finally in St. John's! We left Toronto at 8:30am Saturday August 23/08 and arrived in St. John's at 6:15pm Monday August 25/08. It was exhausting but also fun. It gave us a chance to see parts of Canada we never thought we'd see and allowed us lots of time in the car to enjoy eachothers company and talk (what else is there to do?) which usually gets sidelined by things like t.v. and the computer.

Our first stop was in Bangor, Maine. Maine doesn't seem to have much in the way of scenery and their highway system (until we got to the Interstate) goes through small towns and past people's houses. It's only 1 lane of driving and the drivers in Maine are quite comfortable staying at the speed limit or below, so that was frustrating. As well, there were alot of bends and turns which made the trip even longer.

The next day we drove through New Brunswick where we were fortunate enough to meet up with our friend Bowlin in Fredricton. It was nice to see a friendly face en route, and the fact that we hadn't seen Bowlin in a year made it even better. We were able to grab some lunch and Bowlin showed us around Fredricton.

New Brunswick had beautiful scenery, and it was amazing how much it changed right at the Maine/NB border. Lots of mountains and farms, and a way better highway!!!! From New Brunswick we drove through Nova Scotia to North Sydney to catch our ferry. Nova Scotia's highway was very frustrating to navigate, 1 lane and again the inhabitants are content to drive BELOW the speed limit. I must say though that Nova Scotia was the only province/state that had a nice welcome centre and provincial/state sign. I live for those, I love taking either a photo of them or a photo of me in front of them and so I was quite disappointed for the majority of the trip. Luckily some other people were taking their photo at the Nova Scotia sign and took ours for us.

The ferry ride was uneventful. We left 1.5 hours after we were scheduled to (are we on Newfoundland time already??) but as soon as we hit the cabin we both went to sleep. We only got 5 hours of sleep that night and seeing as we had already been on the road for 2 days we were quite exhausted. Walking on the ferry was a bit difficult as it rocked alot. The best part of the ferry ride was that our budgie, Kermit, didn't die in the car!!!! We were (well I was) apprehensive about leaving him in the car especially when Chris said he couldn't guarantee he'd be ok (WHAT???? no guarantee??) so I made Chris look in on him first when we got back to the car. The worst part of the ferry ride for me at least was the scalding hot shower - how is that suppose to wake me up at 6am????

And finally we've reached 'The Rock'. And what a warm welcome it was too - rain, wind, fog (sometimes as thick as pea soup). How can the people in Newfoundland be so nice if they have to contend with this all the time? The scenery was great, lots of mountains, and although the highway was, for the most part, 1 lane, people don't drive below the speed limit and so it wasn't as frustrating as Maine or Nova Scotia.