In the mean time

So I realised that I hadn't posted anything in the last 4 weeks. Mainly because I haven't done anything worthy of a blog (compared to moving countries or visiting exciting places). My jet setting has been on hold recently and I've barely strayed to Downtown St Johns. My next big adventure is due in December when I'm off to the Mojave Desert, but in attempt to keep my readers, I figured I should tell everyone about the more ordinary aspects of my new life. 

I have turned into a Pub Quiz regular at the Grad student Pub, Bitters. They call it Trivia, but I will endeavour to keep my English vernacular. Somewhat accidently I joined a group of quiz veterans and who base their team names on Strip Clubs of the World, examples being "Suckingham Palace" and "Pacific Rim-job" (specifically "Pacific Rim-job:Splendour without Diminishment" in honour of our favourite BC resident). Any further suggestions for team names are welcome. I've also stumbled upon a very knowledgable team and we frequently come in the top 2, rewarded of course with alcohol. Well, I say "we". I sit there and hope for a British question ("Who ran the first 4-minute mile?") or get excited when music or TV questions remind me about my friends back home (i.e. Right Said Fred, Dawson's Creek or Total Eclipse of the Heart). Subsequently Thursdays are my favourite day of the week.

Okay so this wasn't actually to do with the Pub Quiz, but it was taken at Bitters. The Canadians taught me how to turn Sir Wilfred Laurier (ex-Canadian Prime Minister) into Spock.

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving! Now I was expecting a big deal to be made of this. Either my expectations were high or my housemates just weren't that into it but it was a rather mellow affair. Determined to celebrate in some form I rallied the house and we prepared a lovely meal of roast chicken thighs with roast veg, mashed potatoes, squash, stuffing and gravy, finished with chocolate pie. Whatever I made of the day overall, I certainly managed to cook some yummy food.

Yummy Thanksgiving Dinner. I'm so happy they have stuffing over here.

I went to my first kegger. It's not really that big a deal, it was just a party with kegs of beer which is hardly a rarity, but I felt it was a distinctly North American thing that I should embrace. It was a fundraiser for my friends Gaelic football club (60% drinking 40% playing was their spiel to get me involved). It was good chat, good food and good drink. There was also a bit of snow! It was only a 30 second flutter and it didn't do anything, but again, it was an important event in my Canadian timeline.

I saw my first live sporting event. It was a double header of football (as in English football, I refuse to call it soccer, and if it was rugby with pads I would call it American football) versus the St Francis Xavier X-Men & X-Women. The women earned a tough 0-0 draw. The men ended up on the wrong side of an 7-0 drubbing as well as seeing their keeper sent off for too much backchat. Not a bad afternoon of entertainment for $3. The main point of the day was that I watched live football with other human beings and they still want to be my friends. For those who have accompanied or even heard me watching sports, you will understand how big a thing this is!

Nicked off of Tiffany. Watching MUN at King George V Park, the footy park equipped with cold metal bleachers and $1.25 tea. Located conveniently next to the supermarket so you can do your shopping after the games.

I've moved to my new office on the 5th floor. I have officemates who are lovely and I can now be hunted down my advisor if needed. Work has involved lots and lots of reading that I have been surprisingly keen with. The lab class I TA has finally moved onto the microscopes, something I'm actually good at! 

The pub quiz team celebrated Halloween in a distinctly geeky fashion. Between the 5 of us we comprised the Periodic Table, me being the Transition metals. We all required quite a bit of explanation to everyone we saw, but we all had an excellent time. Shopping for clothes took us to Value Village, basically the biggest charity shop I've ever been to. The "quality" of clothes did not disappoint  Additionally to celebrate finding our costumes we went off for my first Frozen Yoghurt experience. I may have to yield to the American pronunciation of that, it doesn't quite sound right when said in the Queen's English.

Nicked off of Steph. From L->R: The alkali metals, alkali earths, transition metals, non-metals/poor metals, noble gases. As per usual, I'm caught in a stupid pose.

Most recently I have found my fellow football fans who unite to watch Champions League and Premiership matches when they're shown on Canadian TV. This usually involves a trip to The Duke, the place I went to for fish and chips when I first got here. This weekend involved me watching the Merseyside Derby at Hannah's house over a fried brunch of champions. Her neighbours surely did not understand all the screaming. Resigned to not achieving anything for the rest of the day we ended up in The Duke for the Man U-Chelsea match where we were treated with more footballing excitement. The day culminated in my identity crisis as an Irish guy we met was utterly confused with my accent. He even said I'd picked up Canadian...

So that pretty much brings y'all up to date on my adventures. The only thing left to say is if you've managed to miss it, watch last Sunday's Antiques Roadshow. You may spot a familiar face or two lurking behind some very valuable royal memorabilia. 

Until the next time I do something interesting...