My first week in the Peg

Well, it's really not ALL bad. Let us first start by making a list of the good things that I have noticed about Winnipeg. (This should make everyone feel a whole lot better...well, maybe mostly me.) I will save my complaints for next week... :)

1. The job is super cool. For those who have forgotten, I am working at the Canadian Science Centre for Human and Animal Health. It's this HUGE place full of science types (I kind of see this as a positive...for now at least). My boss is an intelligent, hard-working, patient and warm woman. Kind of a rarity in the government (she's new). In my first week I have already learned so much from her. My projects are really secondary to what I will learn from touring the facility with her and going to workshops and seminars.

2. My room and bed are very nice. I share the top floor of the house with another student (coincidentally also a co-op student at CSCHAH...and from Mac! Yeah home province homey!) I have a nice big room and a really comfy bed. No more futon-induced backaches...joy! The room also came with a television...brilliant...I love tv!

3. My house is in a lovely tree lined area of Winnipeg right next to the Red River (prime flood location!). Lots and lots of trees here. And I've been noticing them gaining a little foliage since I have arrived.

4. The weather may be warming up. The night I arrived, it snowed. I also got locked out of the house for 3 hours in my windbreaker. I passed by a sign (which I later took a photo of because I thought it was absolutely perfect) that said "Cheer up. It could be 40 below, eh?" And indeed...boy did I ever. Last week was sandal and tank top weather. This week I'm taking as just an anomaly.

5. They are a lot more bilingual than they think they are. They actually have French quarters here. One of them, is just across River from my house. Yeah...j'adore le francais. Oh...and Gabrielle Roy and Louis Riel used to live here. J'adore les franco-canadiens fameux.

6. The flatter the land the harder the rock. I saw this on a t-shirt at the mall the other day. Apparently it was the slogan for the Junos this year. Gotta love that.

7. Sheesh...obviously this is in no particular order. But they have a sushi-martini bar! I went there on Saturday night, was too late for the sushi...but mmm....martinis were yummy! Just call me Jadini! (As an aside...gosh do I ever miss sushi.) It's funny that so called fast food in Vancouver was sushi...and in Winnipeg they have nomal fast food. I had Arby's for the first time in years on Friday night...mmm....satisfyingly greasy....mmm....curly fries...when you curl them they taste soooo much better.

8. I'll get to make use of the term "mozzie", the Australian word for mosquito, a lot this summer. It really is underused in other parts of the world.

9. Given that I am in a cushy government job, and get off of work at 4 o'clock, I will have lots of spare time to catch up on sleep, and re-learn how to drive and to crochet. I'm sure there are those among you who will argue that I never really learned how to drive...but bear with me. Oh...and by the end of the summer I should have a nice, warm afghan to stash in my closet in Vancouver (since it is too warm there to need an afghan).

10. They have yoga here...yippee...

Ok, ten things is enough...Come visit me!

P.S. Will the mysterious M please reveal themselves? Who is correcting my grammar goddammit?! It's a blog!!