Edmonton Adventure Continued!

Adventure #4: Alberta Aviation Museum + Legislature Grounds

Along with Farah, my adventure buddy, we set off for the Aviation museum around 12.40pm on Monday, and we got lost. Well we didn't actually get lost, but we didn't get off at the right stop, because I had thought there would be another transit, but there wasn't. So we took about a 20 minute ride further away from our stop, and a 20 minute ride back to where we were supposed to get off. Then another 15 minutes to actually walk and get to the museum. And it didn't seem worth it. Just a bunch of war planes, which I guess was kept in good condition, but that was about it. Took a load of photos and that seemed all there was to it. Well, at least I can say I've been there now.

Then we decided to drop by the Legislature around 5pm and see all the beautiful decorations. The lights were set up well and because it gets dark early now, it was a good time to stop by. We also saw people entering the building but there was pretty tight security to get in, and we weren't that bothered to go through all that to find out what was happening.

 

 

Adventure #5: Muttart Conservatory

This was a great adventure. And we didn't get lost on the way (though we almost missed our stop again). Not as far as the aviation museum was, but we still had to walk a little while to get there. It was good though, because the weather wasn't so cold and there is beauty in nature. There are four pyramids and each pyramid hosts different plants from different climates. Being from a tropical country myself, I can say that the tropical pyramid definitely felt like home. It was also really cool to see all types of plants and flowers, and it was really pretty.

 

Adventure #6: Canadian Christmas Dinner

Having no plans on Christmas day, I was gratefully surprised when a teacher I didn't even know invited some of us to her house for a Christmas dinner. She was my RA's teacher and I hadn't even met her before. I went with three others, one was another one of her students, but the rest of us weren't. This is kindness you can only find in Canada people. Well maybe not, but it's rare elsewhere. Knowing that there were some students who were staying back on campus during Christmas and deciding to give us a meal and share the joy with us, that is what Christmas is about ladies and gentlemen. It was fun and though a bit nervous and awkward at times, the night was a success. The food was delicious and we had some good laughs.



Adventure #6.5: Boxing Day

My first experience of boxing day, and though I was not that crazy to go to the stores at 7 in the morning, I went nonetheless. And I kind of get what the fuss is all about. Stores have major discounts, and though I went to a lot of stores and stayed at the outlets for about 2.5 hours, I only bought two items from the same store. I got a good deal on a very good jacket that I simply love. And I'm trying not to spend so much, but since then I've shopped twice. Once on Sunday and again today. New Years Resolution? I'm not going to spend money on clothes anymore until the summer, when my parents come visit.

 

Happy New Year! May 2015 be even better! 

 

 

 

Edmonton Adventure!

I started my Winter break a week earlier than most people. The last of my finals was on the 12th of December, and unlike most people, I had no travel plans. Home was too far away for such a short break, and I didn't really feel like going anywhere. Then, I figured that I might as well visit the places of the city I'm in! I'm always hearing that Edmonton is "Deadmonton" with nothing going on, but that's not true. I found a site that tells of various activities and events around the city, and my goal for the duration of my break is to go to as many of these places as possible.

Adventure #1: Edmonton River Valley Zoo

I started last Sunday, two days after my last final. I went to the zoo with a friend and luckily I met another friend who had three in his group because we had to walk part of the way to the zoo along an isolated path in the dark. My flash makes it seem really creepy, but it was just dark.
The reason we went at night was because the zoo had this festival of lights thing going on, so obviously we had to go when it was dark in order to see the lights. But it wasn't very impressive and I was hoping to see more animals - especially the red pandas but they were hiding inside. =[

Adventure #2: Art Gallery of Alberta

 On Wednesday, I decided to go for a little cultural learning and went to the art gallery downtown. It was really interesting and the art on display was certainly worth a look or two. I've never been one to enjoy art that much before, but since taking a basic art course my eyes have been opened to the world of art.

Adventure #3: Capitol Theatre

There's a small theatre in Fort Edmonton Park and conveniently, the way to get there was to stop at the same place I got off to get to the zoo. But I didn't have to cross the river to get there, and I went during the daytime with a friend. The show we went to watch was called It's a Wonderful Life: Radio Show, it wasn't the traditional theatre with acting, but more of voice acting. Though the actors and actresses were in front of us, it was done so that it gave the pretence of a radio show. They were reading from scripts and when they weren't speaking they sat on the couch behind the microphones. It's a pretty small stage but they manoeuvred it well and they had sound effects that was made manually. That was cool to watch, and the synchronization was impeccable. (On the left of the picture above, you can see a table with bottles and glasses, that area was where they made all the sounds from.)

Fort Edmonton Park itself seems pretty small and doesn't seem to have much. It did look like the buildings themselves were two-dimensional and felt like a set of a movie or something. Maybe because it was winter break and nothing was open that gave off that feeling. People say it's a bustling place in the spring and summer. I shall be back then!



I'm not going to count this as an adventure, but more of an outing. I went to Chinatown today with two friends to eat Dim Sum! A traditional Sunday brunch type of meal for Chinese people - though now any day of the week works fine for us. And as always when I have dim sum, I ate way too much. The thing is, you don't feel full until the end and you realize you still have lots of food on the table. Anyway it was worth it! Haven't had dim sum since I got back from home, and the food was good.

However, we had a bit of drama added to our meal. There was this drunk guy at the table next to ours who at first kept staring at my friend, so I offered to change seats with her. We didn't realize he was drunk then but after awhile, when the manager refused to get him another beer he started making a fuss. I don't know why they didn't get rid of him sooner, because he came over to our table twice and started talking nonsense. This is why you don't go to Chinatown at night people. Daytime is already scary and dangerous enough. I was hoping they would give us the meal for free, or at least a discount for having our lunch disturbed, but we weren't so lucky.

Two more weeks of adventures to go! I may post again next week, lots of stuff planned! Oh, and if you're interested in the site I get the events and stuff from, here it is: http://exploreedmonton.com/

Have a Merry Christmas!