From Christmas Hill to Walmart

After work, I went with Johanna from Germany and Will from England, who had already joined me yesterday on the way to Fisherman's Wharf, to Christmas Hill. It was a 20 minute bus ride and a small hike through a very overgrown path to the top of the hill. From there we had a really nice view of the whole city and the nearby area, although it was quite cloudy today. We had planned to go to some other lookout on the hill but somehow we got lost and ended up at the bottom of the hill. As we didn't want to go back, we went directly to our next destination: Swan Lake.
The lake had a nice size and you could see a lot of birds in the area. As Will had studied biology, he knew a lot about different animals and he showed us a froghopper - a little insect hiding in some kind of bubble on the stem of a plant.
On the way back to the hostel, we came across a Walmart and as Johanna was looking for a cheap bike, we decided to check it out. Johanna didn't find a good bike there, however, all three of us bought a lot of food because it was so cheap. When we left the store, it had started to rain a little. Nevertheless, I didn't want to waste any more money on a bus, thus we kept walking. Later on, I wished that I hadn't insisted on walking since the way was a lot longer and more exhausting than we had anticipated. We still made it back and arrived at the hostel at 9 PM.

Fisherman's Wharf

I started the day by going to Fisherman's Wharf accompanied by a guy I had already met about a week ago in Vancouver. I had been told that I could see a lot of seals in that area which was true: There were at least five seals waiting to be fed by tourists. You could see that they regularly came here as they were more than well fed.
After watching the seals for a while, I took a ferry back to the hostel since I was too lazy to walk all the way back. The ferry ride was really nice. What is more, I stumbled upon a small benefits concert close to the hostel and spent about half an hour listening to a small band consisting of people who were playing the guitar and singing.
Since I couldn't print anything at the hostel, I went to a public library in order to print 10 copies of my resume. I spent the afternoon looking for interesting shops with a 'We're hiring'-sign in the window. In the end, I only found three where I then left my resume.
I went for another walk in the evening. Afterwards, I cooked some dinner for tonight with a lot of leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Shoes

After work, I went to the Bay Center – a shopping center which is located about four blocks from here. As I had been running around with my broken shoes for about a month now, it was high time to get some new ones. I went to about five or six stores before I decided to go back to the first store and buy a pair of shoes which was quite comfortable. I guess 90 CAD aren’t too bad for some shoes.

On the way back, I got some chocolate ice cream with three toppings (Strawberries, some kind of cookie and some kind of chocolate chunks) and I enjoyed it on a nearby bench.

Work and little talks

I didn't do too much apart from working today. Since my shift started at 11:30, I didn't finish until 5:30 PM. Thus, the day was more or less over. I still did some internet research and went for a short walk in the neighborhood, but that was it.

In the evening, I chatted a little with a new roommate: A middle ages woman who is originally from the UK but has lived in Australia, Taiwan and Holland. She said that she has no place she'd call home and that she feels the happiest when she is on the move. I think that is an exciting way of life, but it wouldn't be right for me. In the long run, I want to have a place that I can call home.
When I went down to eat some noodle soup in the kitchen, I chatted some more with a few coworkers, mostly about Canada.

Working and walking

Today was my day of work at the hostel. It was mostly just cleaning the private rooms in the morning and dorm rooms in the afternoon, which really wasn't too bad. I had a few more pieces of my pizza from yesterday, which were still quite good, for lunch.
After work, I walked with one of my coworkers down through Beacon Hill park to the nice little beach I had found two days ago. We talked a lot about writing, books and more while relaxing a while on a big rock.

On the way back to the hostel I bought a few more things, among them some oatmeal with apples and cinnamon. When I ate it later in the common area next to the kitchen, there was a guy playing the guitar and singing to it, which sounded really nice.

Butchart Gardens

Today I met with Dave and Pam, two old friends of professor Gamst, who are living nearby. Dave picked me up from the hostel and we went to Butchart Gardens, a big park with a lot of lovely flowers. I enjoyed walking through the park; apart from the roses, everything was blooming beautifully. Nevertheless, I think that it was a bit small considering the entrance fee.
Next, I went with Dave to his house to meet his wife Pam and his two cute cats. The view from Dave's house was really amazing - it is located right next to the ocean. Dave and Pam were both really kind and helpful; Since I didn't have a working phone here in Canada, they decided to lend me their spare cell phone for my time here. As Dave still had a dentist's appointment, they set me off in Sidney and I took the next bus back to Victoria.
After buying a few more things in a discount store, I went down south to Beacon Hill park and to the ocean once more. This time I walked eastwards along the coast. On my way back, there were two deer crossing a street in the middle of the city. I walked close to them for a while until they vanished into some garden.
Just before arriving at the hostel (the walk was longer than I had anticipated) this evening, I bought a huge ('panoramic') peperoni pizza in a pizza hut shop, which was the cheaptest size due to a discount promotion. Back at the hostel, I ate half of it and left the other half for tomorrow.

Beacon Hill Park and more of Victoria

I thought I was supposed to start working at the hostel today, however, the plan had changed so that I was not supposed to start unil Tuesday. Thus I decided to check out the nearby area.
I wasn't too impressed by the Downtown area of Victoria this morning. The Legislature building looked nice and there were a lot of nice gardens nearby, but it was all just nice. The inner harbour of Victoria wasn't impressive at all and the Downtown streets with all the little shops as well as China Town were maybe nice to look at once or twice but that's it. All things considered, Victoria seemed just like some small town without anything spectacular to me.

All of this changed when I went for another walk this afternoon:
I walked down to the big Beacon Hill Park, which is extremely beautiful. Apart from the lakes, fountains and beautiful flowers, I saw a lot of squirrels and birds. There was a duck with three little chicks, which I watched for a longer period of time while they were sun bathing. When I went past the petting zoo, which was already closed, I discovered two peacock who were apparently not very fond of the zoo's fence and had broken out. I looked around if there was someone I could notify about that but since there were no employes, I just walked on.
I went further south to the coast line. After walking through a big field of grass, I discovered a small stony beach which was absolutely stunning. From there, I walked along the coastline of Victoria until I arrived at Fisherman's Wharf. The sun was already pretty low and the scenery was just amazing. In addition to that, there were a lot of cute houses in that area. I'd actually love to live there for a while, maybe I'll find something nearby.
When I arrived at Fisherman's Wharf, I ate a cod burger for dinner. Since the shop was out of fries and about to close, they gave me a big discount.
By now it was getting a bit cold, so I walked back to the hostel while eating. Just when I came back to the inner harbor, the sun was about to set, which offered me another amazing view.