Skiing at Cypress Mountain

We went downhill skiing yesterday at Cypress. It was a beautiful day - the snow was good, the air was warm, and we were on the slopes! The view was also great. You can actually see downtown Vancouver from the top. It's incredible how close the mountains are to Vancouver and vice versa.

After a few runs, I realized the main reason why I like downhill skiing. I like watching John ski. He's good. When he skis, he looks so natural and graceful. He's able to stop at basically any point he wants. He can go off jumps and go down black diamonds. Like I said, he's good.

I, on the other hand, go down the hill with all my focus being on staying in control. Of course that doesn't always happen - which meant I fell five times yesterday. It's funny. I see someone fall ahead of me and all I can think is "How do I avoid that person?" John sees someone fall and he goes over, quickly stops right in front of her and helps her up by actually pulling her up with his pole!

On the slopes at Cypress Mountain:


We packed a lunch and actually ate it at the foot of the 2010 Olympics Freestyle Skiing hill! (If anyone is interested in attending this event, it is going to have an incredible viewing area, as the parking lot starts less than a meter away from where John is sitting.)


John could have probably skied until the mountain closed at 10 p.m., but I was exhausted by the end of the afternoon!

A Scavenger Hunt Date in Vancouver

Our home group gave us a wonderful Christmas present full of treats for study breaks. There was also a bunch of envelopes whose contents contained a scavenger hunt date! We went on the hunt this past Sunday.

It all started off at the Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park. Not only were we to enjoy the aquatic animals, but we were also to search for answers to questions among the animal signs. Did you know that the front flippers of sea lions are larger than their back flippers but it's the opposite for seals? Did you know that sea lions have ear flaps but seals do not? Did you know that a baby beluga whale was born at the Vancouver Aquarium this past summer and that her name is Tiqa? Neither of us had ever seen a beluga whale before. It was really incredible to see such a large white whale swimming in the dark water.

We then went on our first geocaching expedition! Well, we first we had to figure out how to use our friends' GPS, but once we got that under control, we realized we were already quite close to the spot. A little shifting, a little moving of short logs by a tree's trunk, and voila! There was the little ziploc bag with the little Altoids container inside that we had been looking for! It was quite exciting. (Okay, it wasn't quite that easy.)

The last stop for the day was Kam's Place. A staple restaurant in downtown Vancouver, it serves delicious Singaporean food. Wow, what a treat! Thank you for the great date!

Updates on Lots of Life Things

So I stopped posting about my black eye because even though I thought it was all very interesting, I figured four pictures of my own eyes were enough for a blog that hasn't been around for long. There have been, however, requests for more! So here's another photo for you:


It looks like one of those cheek streaks that football players use to reduce glare, but it's purple. The pain has basically disappeared, and the swelling is gone everywhere except for where it initially swelled by the eyebrow. Thanks for being interested!

The snow has stopped falling and is now melting. It's amazing - we haven't heard the sound of a shovel for days now. During that first week back, it was considered strange to have not heard the sound of shovels after walking by five or six houses! While there are still mountains of snow on our neighborhood's roads, life has gone back to normal...

Except for, of course, the flooding, mud slides, and avalanches that have been caused by the snow. I think the death toll from avalanches is around 12. While we haven't heard any stories of serious flooding in Langley, the flooding is still apparent when driving by farmland, riversides, or the golf course we went sledding at! Towns east of us have been severely hit by flooding and mudslides.

Getting off of the topic of weather, let's move on to John. His studies have begun again. He's taking Old Testament Seminar, Greek Readings in the Septuagint, and Aramaic. This semester's work is requiring him to use his previously learned languages often, plus he's learning a new one! According to him, Aramaic is relatively easy after already having a handle on Hebrew. I, for one, wouldn't know but... :) Here's a photo of him laughing at his wonderful wife - er, his wife who is trying to figure out how to use the computer camera!


P.S. Yes, this photo was taken in our bathroom. All our pictures have been taken in there because that's where the brightest light is. John's family members out there - do you recognize the picture hanging on the wall?

Gruesome Photo

Here's how my eye is looking today!

Progress?

Here's what my eye looks like today. The swelling has gone down a bit, but now the entire area is quite tender. It's actually quite green around the purple and blue, but the computer doesn't pick it up. It'll be interesting to see how my new employer responds to me this morning! An adult with a black eye teaching 11 year-olds?