Monthly Archives: August 2009
Newcastle Island
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 over to visit, and enjoyed a few hours walking 10km around its coastline. Here are some pictures from my walk.
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- From the ferry
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- Seaside view
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- Snow on mountains
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- Walking through the trees
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- More trees
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- Maple leaves
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- View of Vancouver Island
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- Totem pole
Jet lag!
Canada is 16 hours behind Japan, so we areoftenin 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 last night! Only bad point is we have to go through it all again when we go back to Japan in 2 weeks! Zzzzz….
Firing the cannon!
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!
Canada – Day 5
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 Youtube video above). After lunch, we explored the Nanaimo Museum. All the students searched for the answers to a questionnaire about the exhibits. Gorgeous weather, so it was an enjoyable (and educational) day out!
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- Inside the Bastion
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- Checking the cannon
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- Kazumi studying!
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- Watch your head!
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- Lunchtime
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- Titanic?
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- At the waterfront
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- At the waterfront
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- Old classroom
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- Looking for answers
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- Looking for answers
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- Still looking
How much to tip?
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 time. When to tip is more difficult… I never know whether to leave it on the table, or pay it at the cash register, or where. I find paying by credit card is easiest, because you can usually add it to the total before you sign the check.
For example, last night I went to Cafe Modern in Nanaimo, and I ordered a hamburger and a beer. The bill came to $12.99 for dinner, $5.50 for a beer, then sales tax (5%) $0.93 and liquor tax (10%) $0.55 = a total of $19.97. So, I should pay a tip of $3.00. Compared to Japan, Canada is actually quite an expensive place to eat out in!
Classic Hamburger
