Every morning the students have English classes with Kathy, but in the afternoons they get out into the community for a variety of activities. Today’s activity was Rock Climbing – which none of us had done before. The girls were great, and really tried their best. EVERY student got to the top of the climbing [...]
Today was a day off for everyone, so most of the girls decided to go shopping or do activities with their host families. It was another beautiful day here, so Theresa (our coordinator at VIU) invited me to go kayaking around the islands in Nanaimo. We rented two kayaks (about $38 for 3 hours each) [...]
After our time at Capilano, we went to Grouse Mountain… a large mountain that overlooks Vancouver City. The cable-car ride was amazing! It’s very steep, and the views are fantastic. After that, the girls had a few hours to go shopping in Vancouver City (on famous Robson Street) before catching the ferry back to Nanaimo.
#gallery-3 [...]
Capilano Suspension Bridge (their blog) is a wonderful nature park just north of Vancouver. From the entrance, you take a suspension bridge acroos to the park area. The bridge is 136 metres long, and 70 metres high, and it moves a LOT! Some of the students were shaking by the time they got across! Very [...]
Today was our day trip to Vancouver City – a 2-hour ferry trip from Nanaimo by ferry. We traveled in one of Vancouver Island University’s 14-seater buses, and Emily was our guide for the day. Here are some pictures from the trip.
#gallery-5 {
margin: auto;
}
#gallery-5 .gallery-item {
float: left;
margin-top: 10px;
text-align: center;
width: 33%; }
#gallery-5 img {
border: 2px solid #cfcfcf;
}
#gallery-5 [...]
In the harbour, just out from Nanaimo is beautiful Newcastle Island. Getting there takes about 10 minutes by ferry, and costs about $8:00 return. The island itself is a maritime park, so it has very little on it… just a small shop, a camping area, a wharf, and LOTS of nature. After classes, I went [...]
Canada is 16 hours behind Japan, so we are often in your yesterday! Of course, this made our body clocks a little crazy at first, making us sleepy in the daytime and wide awake at night! Now, however, everyone seems to have adjusted OK. And I was very happy to FINALLY get a good, normal night’s sleep [...]
Everyday in Nanaimo during the summer, one of the old cannons is fired at noon. Before the firing, a group of dancers perform Highland (Scottish) dancing, accompanied by a bagpiper. Today, Saori and Ayaka were chosen to fire the cannon. Watch the video!
Today was a day where we really explored Nanaimo. We started off with a tour of the Bastion – one of the oldest (156 years old) buildings in Canada, and the corner building of the original fort. Then we explored the waterfront area before returning to watch the midday firing of the cannon (see the [...]
In Japan, and in my home country of New Zealand, we don’t tip at restaurants, so learning to tip can be a bit scary and confusing. How much, and how to pay it? Usually in Canada people tip around 15% of the meal’s charge, so you get pretty good at calculating that after a short [...]
One of the most important things when you’re away from your family and friends for a long time is keeping in touch. Of course, you can telephone, but that costs far too much. Thankfully, now that we have the Internet, things are much better. Email is free, and we can do it from anywhere with [...]
This morning we had our first visit to Nanaimo Museum. We were given a photo presentation about the history of Nanaimo and then we had a wander through downtown. We’re going to return there tomorrow for a tour of the museum and a visit to the Bastion… one of the oldest buildings in Canada.
In the [...]
This morning the students began their studies with Kathy. They also learned about Nanaimo and Vancouver Island in preparation for our trip to Nanaimo Museum tomorrow. In the afternoon, we were to go on a hike, but it began raining heavily, so we went 5-pin bowling instead. It’s VERY hard! Our top scorer was Ayaka [...]
Nanaimo has lots of great restaurants downtown, but tonight I decided to eat one of my favorites from New Zealand – ‘Fish & Chips.’ The restaurant I went to is in the yacht marina downtown, so the setting is very nice. The food was good, and the cost… $10.25 (about ¥950). Yummy!
#gallery-9 {
margin: auto;
}
#gallery-9 .gallery-item [...]
We had our first day at VIU (Vancouver Island University) today. In the morning, we:
Had an orientation about VIU from Theresa
Had a homestay orientation
Met our tutor, Kathy, who took us on a campus tour
In the afternoon, another staff member, Pascalle, took us on a guided tour of Nanaimo. Beautiful sunny day… dry, not humid, blue [...]
