On one of the afternoons in the weekend when I was off Michael and I went to Colony Farm Park together as we just wanted to go for a nice walk somewhere not far away. He enjoyed it very much as well and this time we walked further so we got to the pond where you may see different kinds of birds in certain times of the year. Not many birds there now, but it was still a nice place to visit. On October 16 I took the day off because it was my Canadian citizenship day. Michael and I met Ineke at the Stadium skytrain station and from there we went to the Immigration place together, it was only a 5 minute walk. There were a whole bunch of people there and the judge mentioned that the immigrants that were there that day came out of 17 different countries…that’s quite a bit. First we had to get ourselves registered and show our papers. Then we had to sit down and wait until everybody was registered before the judge would start the official ceremony. He gave a short speech about Canada about what it means to become a Canadian and after that we all had to take our oath. Once that was done we all sang the Canadian anthem “Oh Canada” together … I knew that already from watching so much hockey as they sing the anthem at every game…haha! After that they gave us our official paper as well as the Canadian citizenship card.
When all that was done we were invited for some drinks (coffee, tea or juices) and a piece of Canadian cake. It was quite interesting to experience. Now I am officially Canadian. I am still a Belgian as well as Belgium allows dual citizenship and Canada does too. I don’t know whether I will give up my Belgian citizenship, but for now I would like to keep it. Ineke bought me some nice little presents to congratulate me which was so nice of her and she didn’t have to do that! I really appreciated it. There were some candles there and a porcelain Halloween pumpkin in which you can put a tea light. So cool!
Ineke at my Canadian Citizenship ceremony
I received my paper and citizenship card (photo by Ineke)
Michael and I enjoying a piece of Canadian cake (photo by Ineke)
We are trying to start looking into some renovations for our house. We would like some new windows, possible new siding and a fresh coat of pain on our stucco. We might also want to find something for our patio in the back and the front doorsteps as it is painted now which doesn’t look all too great. From October 16 until October 19 there is a “Home and Design Show” at the BC Place in downtown Vancouver so we wanted to go there and have a look what’s out there for renovations. We decided to go in the late morning on October 18. If the weather was going to be nice we were going to stay downtown, have some dinner at a restaurant and after that I wanted to go and take some photos in downtown Vancouver after dark. I really wanted to try some night shots, especially with my new camera. Well, on the 18th it was a fairly sunny day with some clouds. We decided to leave around 11.00am and stay at the show until about 3.00-4.00pm. I took my camera and tripod along so I could take some nice photos later on after the show. The show was very interesting and we came across a few things that caught our attention. In February there will be another show with even more products for outside renovations. But this show gave us some ideas already.
By 4.00pm we had enough and decided we would go for early dinner somewhere and then we could make our way to the waterfront for some photos. We ate at Ricky’s and enjoyed it very much. From there we walked to the Canada Place from where we followed the seawall to Stanley Park. We didn’t go all the way to Stanley Park as the sun was starting to set and I wanted to set up my tripod and camera at the Canada Place. There is a walkway around the Canada Place and that’s where I wanted to set up. I got the chance to take some really cool shots after it got dark. It was a really satisfying day all the way around. We left downtown around 7.20pm and got home by 8.15pm. We had a wonderful day together and we had so much fun!
By 4.00pm we had enough and decided we would go for early dinner somewhere and then we could make our way to the waterfront for some photos. We ate at Ricky’s and enjoyed it very much. From there we walked to the Canada Place from where we followed the seawall to Stanley Park. We didn’t go all the way to Stanley Park as the sun was starting to set and I wanted to set up my tripod and camera at the Canada Place. There is a walkway around the Canada Place and that’s where I wanted to set up. I got the chance to take some really cool shots after it got dark. It was a really satisfying day all the way around. We left downtown around 7.20pm and got home by 8.15pm. We had a wonderful day together and we had so much fun!
As many of you may now, North America is the place to be for Halloween. In Vancouver and surroundings there are many houses decorated in the Halloween theme and some are turned into a creepy graveyard. I worked on the day of Halloween and we were all allowed to dress up for Halloween at work. There was going to be a competition at noon where the resident’s would choose who had the most original costume and who had the most attractive costume. It was a crazy day at work with all these people dressed up…haha, but it was really fun. At night we went to Michael’s parents place and there were several children that came to the door all dressed up for “trick or treat”. We gave out some candies and off they went. When we got home later in the evening I heard some banging noises. As I looked out the window there were some really beautiful fireworks to be seen a street over from us. I enjoyed watching that…it lasted for about half an hour.
A pumpkin at the nursing station at work
My bosses and co-workers all dressed up for Halloween
A house in our neighbourhood with some Halloween decorations
Please see my next post "My life in Canada (November 2008)" for the rest of the story!
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