canada, eh!

So, here I am. In Canada. Today I went skating in Nathan Philips square, yesterday I went skating in Nathan Philips Square and at the Harborfront (which was amazing). Tomorrow I get to play hockey. Sweet. There are many reasons that I want to move to Canada, but one of the most superficial is that I have the chance to skate outside, for free, on a decent sized rink, everyday if I want to. I know that I wouldn't skate so much if I lived here, but even so, I'd take good advantage of it. Trust me, I don't miss a thing about the English winter...

I got here to discover that the banks don't open till tomorrow, and I need to change currency, because all I have is English money. The problem is that the currency exchange places rip you off big time - they were offering me 1.02 dollars for my pound. The usual is 2.24 dollars for the pound. Sucks, eh? So the banks don't rip you off like that, but they're closed. Good job that I have a loving girlfriend to help out...

In other news, on my first morning here, I got woken up by a phone call from a friend that I went to university with, telling me that another friend of ours that had been on our course, died of lukaemia last tuesday. I think I'm still in a bit of shock about it, because I prayed for her last time she had it, and it went into remission, then it came back. I meant to call a couple of weeks ago, but I forgot, and then I found out that she had died. It's hard to make sense of things like this, but it certainly puts my illness into perspective...

I don't intend to leave things on such a depressing note, so I will just tell you that I am drinking more root beer than is good for any one person to drink, and this evening Bethany and myself intend to eat our own bodyweight in krispy kreme donuts. More body fat will keep out the cold...

Not again...

Well people, once again, it has taken me an inordinately long period of time to blog. At least I have some sort of excuse this time. I've been back at work, and I've been doing all sorts of other things too:

During the time since my last blog, I have formed the LJSC - the Leeds Jedi Supporters' Club. Leeds Jedi are an ultimate frisbee team, and I am now the president of their supporters' club. This means that I have spent quite a good portion of my time setting up a website for them - check it out here. I've also been compiling the first issue of a monthly newsletter, and getting a bunch of people to go to one of their tournaments.

The Salvator Darlings played a couple of gigs too - both of which went reasonably well. However, for various reasons, we are taking a break for a while, during which we intend to write some new material, and record some stuff. We'll hopefully be playing live again around March.

Finally, it's been really good to get back to work. Thanks to everyone that's been praying for me. I've been devastatingly bored some of my time off, and things looked a little hairy for Christmas with finances, but the Provider came through for me... there's plenty harder times to come, with another good chunk of time off for my next operation in the new year, but I'm trusting God to help out again. I finished work today for the Christmas holidays - it feels wierd because I've only been back two weeks, but this time it's much more fun being off. I have a work party tonight, the deputy head has left after 25 years, and it's Christmas, so we're having a do in Headingly. Then there's a week of parties before it's off to Canada.. I can't wait. I can't tell you how much I miss Bethany. And everyone else too. Canada's felt like my home for some time now. When I arrive there I settle straight in, but when I get back here it usually takes me a couple of weeks before I feel comfortable again. It's going to be fantastic to bring in the new year with all my friends over there, and while I'm worshipping on the decks...