Only one more week until I will leave Mel and Mario and I will share an AirBnB together before weg o on our Road Trip. I am looking forward to it.

Monday: I met again with Clara. What a wonder 😉 I guess we get along really good and I am glad I met her here. We went to Bloedel Conservatory. I´ve been there last week with Mel but we didn´t know that we would need tickets to entert he conservatory, so I asked Clara and she said. We only paid 8 bucks, well, but even that wasn´t worth it… It is really small, very hot and u can see some birds (like parrots). Mostly from the tropical rainforest. Anyway it was still cool to be there. Even though the Conservatory isn´t nice, I can highly recommend the park around it. Especially in summer. Flowers everywhere and just a nice place to relaxe. After this we took the Sky Train to Richmond. Richmond belongs to Vancouver but it is an own city itselfs. Nothing to explore there, but at least I know that. Then we headed to The BC Place Stadium, because Clara promised me that they would have there the best poutine. I have to admit it is a really great poutine, especially fort he price. You get a huge box of poutine. I guess for 5,75 bucks😊 After this we enjoyed the sunset at Science World, made a beer tasting at Craft and then we went home. Cool day!

Tuesday: I didn´t do a lot. In the evening I went out to the Kitsilano beach with Clara and went for a swim in the ocean. To be honest it was pretty cold. The water was freezing cold, but when I came out, I felt really good. I can really understand why soccer players always do these Ice Baths… Really good. After that I enjoyed the sunset. I can really recommend the Kitsilano beach for a nice evening. A lot of people around there, enjoying there lifes.

Wednesday: It was going to be one of the coolest days in Vancouver so far. We had fantastic weather, not a cloud in the sky. That means Mel and I decided to call HarbourAir and reserve two tickets for a scenic flight over Vancovuer. 14:30 it should go off. Arrived, checked in, briefly waited and then we were off. We were a total of 7 people in the seaplane with a pilot. The plane is designed for 14 passengers, which means we all had a window seat. The flight time was 20 minutes. First it went in the direction of Vancouver Island and over a few glaciers. Very cool 🙂 Then it went on over Vancouver. We did a 3/4 circumnavigation of Vancouver. The following pictures were taken:

A very, very cool day. I recommend everyone to have done the whole time. The price is 150 CAD (100€). But since Mel works at the hotel and has a tourist card we only paid half. Still highly recommended!!!

Small hint to all who read on from here: Everything I write now, I wrote on 06.04, Tuesday. The reason is this.

After we left the plane, Mel was not necessarily in a very good mood. He would be so cold. That’s why he went home and I went for a walk. Then on Thursday and Friday I didn’t do anything special either. On these two days Mel felt worse and worse until he went to a Corona test center on Friday evening. There he also had other examinations. All his values were below normal! So they took him to St. Paul’s Hospital in downtown Vancouver. I only found out about this on Saturday. Moreover, the results came on Saturday at noon. Positive corona test…

Thereupon I went on Saturday afternoon and also did a Corona test, moreover I was called and it was made clear to me that I must go for 14 days into a compulsory quarantine. Including until 17.04, regardless of whether the test result will be positive or negative.

As a result, I did nothing on Sunday and Monday and rested and psychologically prepared for the lockdown.Now 2 hours ago I got the result. POSITIVE!

Traveled in Canada for 6 months, flew twice, never had anything and now infected by the roommate who most likely got it at work. Can not do much now and deal with. Healthwise it goes me so far well. I hope for a mild course of the disease, rest me and do little.

I have mild symptoms so far. But nevertheless I am doing very well so far. THAT REMAINS ALSO SO!!!!I am uploading this blog post now. Continue to write regularly from quarantine on the blog and keep everyone updated. It’s definitely boring, I’m happy about all the news I get.

Take care of yourselves, stay healthy and feel squeezed.

Tom

BTW. I am staying in the apartment for my quarantine, Mel will stay with his pneunomia in the hospital for longer. That means I can easily do my quarantine here. Keep in touch!

Monday: Actually my daily routine looks every day the same. Get up at 10am, having breakfast and then around 1 or 2pm I am going out, doing something until late evening. This day I met with another german guy calles Niklas. Niklas is 21 years old, comes from Eisenach and is since 6 months in Vancouver, just like me. He started working in Vancouver (at Pristine Labour). That is also the way he could have entered the country, like almost every second german xD Anyways, after 2 months working on construction, he quit the job and started in a restaurant as a chef. Something different, but he does like it. Since 4 months he is working there now. Further Niklas is living in one of the big houses in Yaletown (close to Downtown). He is paying for his bedroom, a private bathroom and a shared kitchen with two others in total 1300 CAD. That is pretty good for Vancouver. In general Vancouver is a very expensive city, no matter where u r living. Tbh I could imagine living here but I couldn´t afford it xD. Anyways, Niklar and I made in total 30km by foot on that day. We walked the whole waterfront around Stanley Park and also through Gas -and Chinatown. In the evening we saw a beautiful sunset at the english bay and had a beer in a nice pub in Gastown (Gastown ist he old part of Vancouver, an unique place with a lot of bars, restaurants and small shops). It was a cool day and I am looking forward to do more with him.

On Tuesday I had my Sunday. I didn´t do anything. I was until 5pm at home. But then I met with Clara (austrian girl) and weh ad a nice evening together. We bought some snacks, went down the waterfront and after it, we prepared a nice Dinner at my place. Pesto pasta with vegetables and spring rolls. A nice and cool evening, Clara quit her job as au pair now, because she doesn´t wanna do it anymore. She told me about it and I can totally understand it. Hopefully she is going to find a person who wants to overtake😉

On Wednesday Mel had his day off but we didn´t do something together. He just wanted to relaxe but I had that day already yesterday, so I went for a ride. Took my bike and cycled the whole Waterfront of Vancouver, around the Stanley Park to Canada Place, from there to gastown and then back to Olympic Village. I think it was something aorund 30km. The weather wasn´t that nice but still ok. I can highly recommend to visit and explore Vancouver on bike. That ist he best way to do it. You´ve got almost everywhere paths for bikes and pedestrians. The city has a really good system. In the evening I ate leftovers from yesterday and we watched Superman together, well actually it was Justice Leagues, but I don´t know a lot about all these movies, because I never really followed it.

Thursday: I thibk this day was the day with the best weather so far here in Vancouver. Mel and I started the day around 2pm. Before that we had some lunch. Anyway… today we wanted to visit the „Bloedel Conversatory“. This is something like a botanical garden south of Vancouver with parrots. Unfortunaley when we arrived we realized that because of Covid u have to book in advance, so we couldn´t do this. But at least we could enjoy a bit time in the park. Mel told me that in Summer there are so many beautiful flowers and the park is just so gorgeus. Even though it wasn´t summer the park was nice but I definitley wanna come back in Summer. After our disappointment we decided to head Downtown. Back tot he train station, 2 stations until Waterfront Vancouver and we got out. Mel had to pick some stuff that he bid on on Kijiji (the canadien version of ebay) and after that we went tot he „Top of Vancouver“. Vancouver has, just like Toronto (CN Tower) and Calgary (Calgary Tower), also a Tower (the Harbour Centre), directly next to the Waterfront. It is not the biggest building but still really high (third biggest building in Vancouver with 168m). Up on the Tower there is a rotating restaurant, the „Top of Vancouver“. It takes one hour to see every part of Vancouver. That means one hour to rotate the whole 360 degrees. Obviously it is really expensive up there, so that Mel and I just ordered some Desert and some Drinks. Even though this was expensive as well, it was worth it. We had such a beautiful view up there and I really enjoyed it. Especially because of the good weather. If u will ever go to Vancouver, I can highly recommend the „Top of Vancouver“, but I have to admit, u only should go there when there is good weather. After about an hour we headed back via the English Bay tot he apartment. Beautiful sunset at English Bay, another thing u should do. Watched a movie in the evening… Good Night!

Friday: Friday was a lazy day. The weather was ok. At least it didn´t rain. Mel headed to work at 2 and I went for a bike ride. Had a beer at Granville Island and a little snack at „Bridges“. Tomorrow my plan will look similiar xD Anyway looking forward tot he next couple days and weeks.  

On Sunday I met with Clara and Luca. First time fort hem to see each other and it was a really nice day with them. I met Clara already at 11 and we went to Mount Pleasant. You can find there a lot of Vintage, Second Hand and Thrift Stores. I bought sunglasses and a bag because all my stuff doesn´t fit anymore in my two bags. Anyway around 1pm we took the bus to the Sky Train Waterfront Station and met with Luca. We headed to north Vancouver via boat. There are two oppurtunities to get to North Vancouver. Either u take the bridge from Stanley Park or the boat at the Waterfront Station, close to the Canada Place. On the other side we visited the Lonsdale Quay Market Hall. Soemthing similiar like the Granville Island Market but I prefer the one on the North side. Wasn´t that busy and almost the same stuff. Further weh ad a really delicious pizza over there. After that we headed tot he Cleveland Dam close tot he Capilano Suspension Bridge. The dam is huge. We went for a little walk there and we were so amazed by the forrest. Rain forest everywhere… everything so green… just beautiful. After that we took an UBER to the BC Place Stadium and went to a mexican restaurant (a really good restaurant). Btw, tbh the UBER Driver was the best I ever had before, we got along really great and had a lot of fun. Hopefully we will see us one more time, @Bessie😊

Two weeks in Vancouver…. One more week until Mario will come. Looking forward to it.

Stay safe and healthy guys, seee ya

Tom

Very IMPORTANT: http://claraberger.com/

This is the Blog of Clara. A friend of mine. We met in Vancouver. Clara is a 21 years old girl from Vienna, Austria and currently with the Working Holiday Visa in Canada, just like me. In 2019 she made a world journey through almost every continent.

Check her out:)

Today I am already 6 months in Canada. Since my arrival, I have given goat and alpaca tours as a guide, mucked out stables, been in big cities, but also in nature, went hiking and have simply gained an incredible amount of experience.

This entry is not meant to be long. It should simply give a small review of my time so far.

“Far away you are often damn close to yourself”

– Martin Krengel –

Especially when you travel alone, go alone to a foreign country, you suddenly notice what a small piece you are in a huge puzzle. On my trip I noticed that the whole puzzle only looks good when every piece is in its place. Traveling alone has its advantages, but also disadvantages. Personally, I need the puzzle around me, I need people to surround me, I need to meet people, have fun with them and just enjoy every single second.

Sometimes you feel alone on your journey, but that’s where the little things are that prompt you to keep going, because there are always better times coming.

I am very happy, not only because of the current pandemic in the world and the situation in Germany, that I am here. Sometimes it feels like winning the lottery. Because…

Such a journey shows you who you actually are, what you want to be and how you want to spend your life. Even if I wasn’t “far away”, it would show me who I am, but damn far away, my eyes open even more and I experience myself.

I k, this blog headline is so creative. Anyway… Monday, Monday was the day of my bye,bye. I woke up at nine, finished the rest of packing and then I left my room in the AirBnB. Check-Out was at 10. But I stayed in Sandras and Linas Room until I had to get my bus to the airport. The rest oft he morning was lazy… Lina was at work and Sandra and I didn´t do anything. Because oft he fact that Lina went to work really early and came home around three I couldn´t see her anymore, so I said goodbye to her the evening before my flight. Around 1:30pm Sandra brought me tot he bus station and I also said goodbye to her. I really enjoyed my one week in Calgary and now tbh I have to admit that I would have stayed maybe one more week longer. We did so many cool things, laughed together and just had fun. Hopefully, Sandra and Lina, I am going to see u one more time in Canada. If not back in Germany. @Sandra, you´ll have to promise me if u get PR, to come for vaccations to Germany and to visit me. @Lina, I´ll come visit u in Schmolde. No I am sitting at the gate and I am saying hello to my new adventure. VANCOUVER!!! I´ll spend at least three weeks alone in that big city at the west coast until Mario will come. I am going to stay at a Couchsurfer almost Downtown. I´ll let u k what we´ll do, if I like it there and all the important things😊 Keep in touch. Only 50 more minutes until I´ll be above Calgary.

Tuesday: Ok before talking about this day, I´ll have to tell u about the rest of the day yesterday.

The horrible thing about the flight was that the airline combined two flights, so it was completely full. I mean I can understand that from the airline’s perspective, but in Covid times…. I had three temperature checks during my entire trip. Arrived in Vancouver, I went after the baggage pickup with the Sky Train to downtown. My couchsurfer Melandro (immigrated from the Phillipines 12 years ago and works in a hotel, he is in his mid 30’s, gay and it shows. Plus he has an apartment in Olympic Village and I sleep on his couch there) always works from 3pm to 11:30pm. That meant I had to make it to his hotel and pick up the key. I walked up the stairs and directly I was approached by a wild stranger. He said, “You’re coming from the airport. Where do you have to go? I’ll help you…” I was already a bit suspicious… then it was “yes where are you from” “Germany” “ah my parents are from Bavaria and I from the USA, I’m still flying there tonight and now I have to get to my apartment quickly, unfortunately my credit card is broken…. can you give me 4 dollars” – I just said “no, you can run away really fast, I won’t give you anything!” I must say the man has made it really smart and always tries to wrap arriving tourists at the Sky Train Downtown Station around his finger. Then I took the bus to the hotel and picked up the key. Then it went by UBER to his apartment and after I went shopping and cooked me something, I went to bed at 11:00.

Now the real Tuesday starts. Mel and I left at 11:00 and he showed me around a bit of all the neighborhoods and showed me Vancouver. We had Japanese lunch and then he went to his hotel for work. During our city tour I learned a lot about Vancouver right away. Vancouver has two sides. On the one hand, Vancouver is a great city with a high quality of life. You have Stanley Park, the English Bay, the sea but also mountains and everywhere restaurants and bars. The whole package is right, if it wasn’t for Hastings Street. On the other hand, you have Hastings Street. This is located between Chinatown and Gastown. A street where you only see homeless people. If you are interested in that, google it. When we just crossed the street, I saw 5 needles lying around, one man using heroin or crack and just extreme poverty. It smells everywhere like a mixture of weed and urine. Look at the pictures. Horrible.

After Mel left for work, I slowly walked back along the waterfront, took pictures, and enjoyed Vancouver. I went shopping before I arrived home and then cooked. After dinner I met up with Clara on Granville Island. Clara is an Austrian girl who I met on Facebook. She entered Canada 4 months ago and was 3 months as an au pair in Toronto and then flew 3 weeks ago here to Vancouver. Here she is also again as an au pair with a family. After she graduated from high school she went on a world trip for a year. Before that I pull my dog. America, Asia, Australia, Europe – many different countries. And now the 21-year-old is in Canada. She showed me a bit of Vancouver on my second day, we went out for Korean food and at 11:30pm we were both back home. A nice first day in Vancouver, where I already made some friends.

On Wednesday Mel had his first day off. We left at 11am. It went to Granville Island. A relatively small island on the waterfront near Kitsilano. At that time an industrial area, today renaturated and redesigned. Granville Island is known for the brewery and the market hall. We bought many different snacks, did a beer tasting and just enjoyed the time. After that we walked all the way up the coast and took the “Aqua Boat” over to downtown. There we looked for shoes. My old shoes are pretty worn out, so I bought new ones. After that it was already 5pm. Shopping, cooking and then watched a movie together.

Sidefact: Parts of Vancouver are in the rainforest. Recently I was in the boreal coniferous forest, and now in the rainforest. Another reason why this country is so great and has so much to offer.

On Thursday Mel and I visited this rainforest. In the north of Vancouver there is the so called “Capilano Suspension Bridge”. A small park, which lies in the middle of the green and humid rainforest. Normally you pay $55 entrance fee, but since Mel works at the hotel and has a tourist pass, we got in for free. We spent a whole three hours on site. One advantage through Covid was there. No tourists, hardly anything going on, so we had the park almost to ourselves.

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• Sidefact: In one year, 2351mm of precipitation falls in Vancouver. In comparison: In 2020, Saarland was the state with the highest amount of precipitation with 881 liters. I think that explains why you have rainforest here.

In the evening we went out for Greek food. The restaurant was quite nice, but I don’t have to go there again. They didn’t even know gyros. 

On Friday I had a phone call with Gavin in the morning. After that I bought a bike at a second hand store. With this I plan the next few weeks to explore Vancouver. On this day I went to UBC, University of British Columbia, which is located relatively far outside. I visited the campus, went to the beach and watched soccer, rugby and field field hockey.

On Saturday I met at 2pm together with Luca Mayer at Science World. Luca arrived 3 months ago, works at Pristine Labour (a construction company) and plans to leave in early April. We met on Facebook.

Science World, supposedly a must-see attraction in Vancouver. Maybe for school groups or kids or families, but it wasn’t for us and the $27 admission could have been saved. A science museum, which also relies on interactive things. Pretty cool, but I wouldn’t recommend it. After that we went to gastown and ate noodles in a very nice restaurant. At 8 o’clock we were both home again.

On Sunday I met Clara again to finish my first week in Vancouver. Cool first week- more to go:)

Sunday evening… I have to say, that the goodbye from the „Black Whiskey Ranch“ was quiet simple and easy compared to the „Farm Haute Goat“. Bev and John are really two people who are nice and lovely, but as much as I liked it at their place, I liked it more at „Haute Goat“.

Anyway, Bev brought me tot he Train Station south of Calgary, I took the train to Downtown, Central Station and from there on, I went further with an UBER to my AirBnB. On the train I had a nice conversation with a canadien who is divorced from his wife and he brought his 6 years old daughter back to her mother. I had a sweater from „San Francisco Giants“ on and he saw it and started to have a conversation with me, because he grew up in San Francisco and went a couple of times to matches of the Giants. Pretty cool. My UBER driver after I arrived at Central Station was weird… He asked me about Angela Merkel, her politics and how I feel about it. To my happiness, the drive took only 10 minutes and I arrived at my AirBnB. It was so nice to see Sandra and Lina opening the door and to welcome you. They showed me everything and after moving into my room, we went for a walk and for groceries. The AirBnB is a multi-party house. In the Basement, weh have Paul, a doctor from Mexico, who is trying to get PR here in Canada. Next to him is Eric, a guy from Nigeria. They have their own living room downstairs with a TV, further down in the basement weh ave the laundry room and they share a bathroom together. In the first floor weh ave in total 5 rooms. One o fit, ist he kitchen. We all share one kitchen together. Across from the kitchen ist he bathroom that Lina, Sandra and I are sharing. Then weh ave one room in which Sandra and Lina are sleeping and next to it, is my room. We´ve got a proch and a nice living room and dining area. In general I have to admit that I like how the AirBnB is granted. We´re living north-west of Downtown in a really cute neighborhood with big houses. Maybe I´ll attach a video oft he AirBnB and the neighborhood. In the evening Lina and Sandra showed me our neighborhood, we went for groceries and walked down the nice Kensignton road. A road where you have different restaurants, bars and nice little stores. We took some take-out with us and went back to our home. In the evening we ate together and relaxed.

Monday: Lina went to work at 5am. Sandra had something to take care of around 10am, so I decided to walk up and down the streets, I had to get some stuff and also other groceries. After my morning walk, I sit on our porch, read a book and enjoyed the beautiful sunshines. Around 11am I had a phone call with an employee of the „WN“. He wants to write and publish an article about my year abroad. After it, I went Downtown, picked up Lina from work and we went home together. One more time, Calgary is a cool city, but u really can´t see a lot here. On our way home, we stoped at Dollarama (something like “PostenBörse”) and bought some things that we needed. In the evening we ordered Poutine (really good) and I cooked pasta bolognese for a midnight snack and the next days. We watched a movie afterwards and went all to bed.

On Tuesday Sandra and I started to make plans for Wednesday to Friday. We wanna rent a car for those three days. ROCKY MOUNTAINS – we´re coming. Around 12 we went to the McHugh Bluff ( a nice lookout point on top of a hill) and picked Lina up again. We went through Downtown, they showed me something and we had a lot of fun. In the evening I preapred Bacon, asparagus and potatoes with a dressing for all of us and I went to bed early, because next day we would have to get up early.

Wednesday: My alarm started around 5:40am. Because I went to bed early on Tuesday, I wasn´t tired at all. After Sandra and I took the bus to the airport to pick up our rental car, we took the Trans Canada Highway to Banff. At about 10:30 we arrived in Banff. I wanted or rather had to buy spikes, because in winter almost all hikes are impossible without spikes. No sooner said than done. After that Sandra and I met Kathy at the meeting point and then we hiked the Tunnel Mountain Trail. A 4.5km long hike with 266 vertical meters. Really a great hike that wasn’t that strenuous. From the top of the Piek you had a great view of Banff and the surrounding mountains. Problem was all the time only that we have made with extreme caution this hike, because in this area Cougar danger prevailed. Fortunately we survived it. Cougars usually do not attack people. But you should not be in their territory, especially if they have just killed something or have just given birth. After this incredibly beautiful hike we did a second hike around Tunnel Mountain, along the Bow River to the Hoodo Stones. What are Hoodo Stones? I’m attaching a picture 🙂 A great hike, but it was more disappointing than impressive. After a total of 20km in one day, we brought Kathy back to Lake Louise. Unfortunately it was too dark to see the lake. After that we made our way home and were home at 12pm.

But before we were home we went to “Peter’s Drive In”. They have been making milkshakes since 1962. You can only order at the Drive In and you can choose from 30 different varieties between 1-3 and order a milkshake. Best milkshake of my life!!! Btw… We were there again on Friday too, around 8pm and it was incredibly crowded. There were 40 cars in line ahead of us, so the entire right turn lane was jammed.

Thursday… after a busy day yesterday we started again at 8am. This time we were stranded between Lake Louise and Banff. We hiked the Johnston Canyon Trail. Problem was that the road to the parking lot at the trail was closed, so we had to take a parking lot 6.5km ahead. In retrospect it turned out that it was not a problem, but that best what could have happened. We started walking and didn’t see a single person for the whole 6.5 km, just two park ranger cars.  In addition, the Johnston Canyon was swept as empty. Yesterday we had seen cougar tracks and warungs. Today we had seen fresh tracks of a wolf pack on the road. With a bit of panic we still fought our way to the hike. On the way we have made incredibly gorgeous pictures of mountain, nature, trees. Typical pictures, as you know them from Canada. At 1 we arrived at the 5km and 236 meters long hike. A dreamlike Hike. We walked to the Lower and Upper Falls and saw frozen waterfalls, 30 meter long icicles and just nature.  After that we made our way back and were at the car at 6pm. 18km again. It was still light so we decided to watch the sunset at Lake Louise together with Kathy and Cora. It was really nice to see Cora again and to see Kathy a second time. Cora is going to New Brunswick at the end of the month to work in a hostel. Lake Louise is not recommended in the winter. Of course it’s great, but it’s still much more impressive in the summer. Still cool!! We arrived back home at 11 and made some pizza.

Friday: The first day on which lina could accompany us. Before that she always had to work. It started at 9am. For once a little earlier. Today we drove only to Canmore. About a one hour drive. We hiked half a loop today. The McGillvray Canyon Trail is 4.8 km long and has 208 vertical meters. This is an Adventure Hike, which means you have to climb up and down rocks, walk along canyons and pull/climb up and down ropes. A really cool and different hike. After 3km we arrived at the highlight. The rock above the canyon on which you can climb. See picture. After that we made our way home. In the meantime I met a Canadian woman who participated in the Powerlifting World Championships. She made the 7th place in deadlifting with 172 kilos. I felt really weak next to her with my record of 80 kilos. She looked like such a crusher. Then we went to canmore for a frozen lemonade at Timmies and then a Baguette at a bakery before heading to Cochrane. At 3:30 pm we had a tour booked at a Wolfdog Sanctuary. We were able to take pictures, videos, selfies with wolfdogs, cuddle them and feed them. Really a great experience.

The guides on site confirmed that Sandra and I had seen wolf tracks the day before, so we were even happier that we survived xD

After howling together with the wolves, we drove back towards Calgary and stopped at “Peter’s Drive In” on the way home. While Lina and Sandra took the car away, I cooked our dinner. Lentils with a delicious sauce, plus pasta and asparagus.

Now I’m sitting on the terrace in the beautiful sunshine and writing this blog entry. On Saturday I did some organizational things. In the evening we went to McHugh Bluff and watched the sunset over Calgary from the mountain. Great week together with Lina and Sandra.

One more day and then it’s off to Vancouver on Monday.

Sunday: Another day with beautiful weather. I sit on the proch and just realxed. I had to take care of different things.

A nice week in Calgary… Looking forward to my journey and stay to/in Vancouver. I´ll let u k about everything.

Tom

Last week on the farm. I am definitley going to miss the time here, because it was really cool, but I am looking forward to my next adventure. One week together with Sandra and Lina in Calgary. Furhter probably I am going to go on a Road Trip with Mario. Mario, a guy, who is at the moment on the farm Haute Goat, where I´ve been. He couldn´t come to Canada because of Covid, he tried to receive a job offer, but couldn´t get one because of Covid. I asked Christa, if she needs someone for february and she said yes, so, now he is here. We had contact on Facebook, already when I was back in Germany. Anyway, we are planning to do this RoadTrip together. Plan ist o start and end on Vancouver Island. There is a lot of stuff, which you can do and it is just beautiful. Whale watching, Hiking… So much stuff to do.

Monday: I was so excited and frigthened of the day xD FCSP : HSV… I watched the whole game and of course the better club won and stays City Champions.  

On Wednesday I rode again together with La. First time for me riding with reins. It was quiet fun and I think I did pretty good. I was able to do the rising trot. But I have to admit that it was much easier this time, because I was riding Guiness (La´s horse). Guiness gives the rider a better bounce than Triton and further he is not so weight. Much easier for me. Guiness is a completely white horse. I was thinking about putting one my grey or white jacket or cape… why? I would have played Gandalf on Guiness. The only thing missing was the perfect location. I would have loved to go to New Zealand with my cousin Felix (he knows his way around there), visit the location of The Hobbit and re-enact the scene when Gandalf comes in with his trailer full of fireworks for Bilbo’s birthday and then Frodo (that would be Felix, because of the feet) comes to him. @Felix, you may choose if I play the grey -or white Gandalf. Greetings to Saarbrücken 😉

On Friday I had my last day of work… After almost 6 months working on two different farm, in two different places with different people, I am so looking forward to do something except work. From now on I have almost two months free time. After morning chores, Bev, John, the danish girl and me, went to the „chuckwagon cafe“ in turner valley, a little town, south of calgary. It is known and rewarded fort he best burger of Calgary, yes of whole Calgary. Of course when we arrived we waited outside for 15minutes, it was so bussssy. Anyway then we got a table and I ordered the „Best Burger of town“ and i have to admit it was really good. NGL… I don´t know if I would call it the best burger i ever had, but it gets close to that. Anyway, it was a cute, little and really old restaurant and I really enjoyed our time there. More to go.

Take a look:

https://chuckwagon-cafe-restaurant.business.site/

Saturday was a lazy day. The cool thing about it was, that we made a movie evening. We watched „The boy in the stripped pijama“ and „Straigt outta Compton“. Two incredible movies. Really good. Anyway, I didn´t do a lot. I had a phone call with Mario and we planed our RoadTrip on Van Island. After that I started to clean my room and I packed everything together. It was tough, but I got everything into my luggage. Close, but everything is in. One day later, Bev brought me around 3 to the train station and at 4 I checked in in my AirBnB. Now, I am looking forward to an amazing week together with Sandra and Lina. Let´s see what this week brings.

After that week, I´ll be for a month in Vancouver. Then Mario and I are gonna go on a Road Trip on Vancouver Island for 15 days. I don´t know, but maybe I can attach our travel journey, so that u guys can see it. I fit is not possible, just text me and I can send it to you. I almost planed everything fort he rest of my year abroad, except the four weeks in Vancouver. I guess I´ll find something, but maybe you guys have any idea how I can spend my time there. Maybe you heard something or you can even recommend something. We´ll see😊 Anyway, I´ll let u k about my week together with the two girls in Calgary. See u soon, stay safe.

Tom

• 9 months, 3 weeks Canada – Now it is Time to say Goodbye…
• My 5 last days in Canada☹
• Last 12 days in Canada; Road Trip; Jasper; Icefield Parkway
• Stay in Vancouver, Road Trip start:
• West Coast Trail Pictures

Monday: First day of Fridas work. Then after morning chores I went on another ride. Well, actually I have had a lesson of english riding. La tought me again. We learned or beter we improved the rising trot. I got better, I got sometimes the rhytm, could hold me longer in the right spot. So I get better. It is really exhausting, makes fun. After that I was tired, hopefully my muscles won´t be sour tomorrow. Fingers crosssed😊 After that we cleaned the paddock. Beautiful weather… plus degrees in mid feb in Canada. Hell, OMG, that is just unbelievable:)

I really don´t know if I mentioned it so far, but….

I will leave the farm in two weeks on the 8th of march. I will live in an AirBnB togehter with Sandra and Lina in Calgary. Maye some of u still remember them from the first Farm where I´ve been. They went together on a RoadTrip through Ontario and then flew to Calgary and now they are living and working here. Luckily the spot where I wanted to come was free, so know I will spend  one week with them together. Perhaps, we are goign to rent a car couple of days and we will drive to some places in the rockies. Going for hikes, something like that. I am looking forward to it😊 After that week, I will fly on Monday to Vancouver. It is just an hour fly, but the funny thing is that there is also an hour time shift. Anyway, I will land there around 5pm and going to drive with the train to Mel, a couchsurfing place where I will stay probably for a month. This is not fix so far. Anyway I will spend one month in Vancouver and probably I will rent a car then and gonna go on a Road Trip on Vancouver Island. This is all not fixed but, the rough plan is in place. What am I gonna do one month in Vancouver? After 5 months working on two different farms, I just wanna spend some time in a big city, experience there a lot, maybe gonna sign in in a Gym, going for hikes, apparently there are also helicopter flights above Vancouver (what I would love to do) , cooking, running… So I think I won´t get bored. Maybe I am also trying to get to know new people. Currently that isn´t really easy, but I´ll do my best, I promise xD

Wednesday: I tried after morning chores, country cross skiing. La brought her husband equipment and I tried it. It is quiet fun, if u have some good trails for it and if you go downhill. I just tried it on the property, so it was quiet boring, but still cool.

Thursday: Such an amazing day. After morning chores and lunch feeding, Frida and I went to Brag Creek. A big area where u find a lot of hiking trails (even riding trails), Cross Country skiing paths and lots more. Anyway, La brought us couple days ago her and her husbands equipment and we wnt Cross Country Skiing in the Mountains. Me, Tom, 19 years old, never been standing on skis before, had such a hard time in the beginning. „One more time uphill“, just one more time… thats what Frida said the whole time. I didn´t know the technique… so it was really hard form e to get up. But after a couple of minutes and some hills I knew how I would go Uphill and how to go downhill without having to much speed. I have to admit that I felt one our 7,5 km route about 5 times, but I guess thsi is pretty good. Weh ad beautiful weather, plus degrees, a lot of sun and had a lot of love. Especially in the end, when I knew how to ski, well, actually I knew better than before about How do I ski… it made a lot of fun. We will do it next week again. I am lokking forward to it😊 Now only one more day of work and… weekend:) I guess we are gonna do some cool things, we already have somthing in mind.

On Friday, I had another riding lesson with La. It was really nice, she told me afterwards that this lesson was a big step forward. So, a proud young boy went up the house and is looking forward tot he next riding lesson. Because this will be the first time that I won´t ride at the longe line, first time on my own with rains. A bit scared, but more excited😉

Next day… one of the best days so far here in Canada.

Frida and I checked an app called “AllTrails” on Friday for hikes and trails we could hike on Saturday. We found something…

The “Suphur Mountain”, a 2400m high mountain in the heart of Banff. Right in the Rocky Mountains. So we decided to hike the 11km trail on Saturday at noon. We left for Banff at 10:00, after 2 hours of driving, we arrived on site. We had feared that the hike will be very difficult, because there was fresh snow the night before. Luckily for us, a few people had already hiked the trail before us, so that we could actually get the 700 meter elevation behind us relatively well. The trail is known for its many swift backs and the continuous slope. We had a good pace on it and have many people overhollt and were after a good 2 hours at the top. Especially the last part was hard for us. Extreme slope, slippery and slippery snow under us (luckily we had spikes with us), so we were all the more happy when we arrived at the top. My problem was not the effort, yes it was very exhausting, but I had sweated a lot because of it and I was clear, at the top I will cool down quickly. Fortunately, at the top was a restaurant, souvenir stores and viewing platforms. We had sat down at a place in the restaurant, ate burgers and enjoyed the great view. Dreamlike! After some time I had warmed up again and we went out after a delicious lunch and took pictures, enjoyed the view and enjoyed life. It was dreamlike. With sunshine we had an incredible view over the mountains. The effort, the sweat hustle and bustle were definitely worth it. The Suphur Mountain Trail is very challenging with the 11km, 700 meters of elevation gain and the many swift backs, but it is worth it. After about 2 hours at the top, we made our way down. You could have also taken the gondola for a lot of money, but a Berlage does not do that and also hikes back down 😉 if already, then already! Down it took an hour and it was not a bit strenuous. Since it was so steep, we are also slipped down in some places. Great, it was fun. Then we went by car through Banff back to the Black Whiskey Ranch. An incredibly beautiful day that I will not forget. So, anyone who wants to go to Canada, take a day to hike the Suphur Mountain Trail, near Banff. You will love it. Tomorrow we will go to Calgary and then the last week on the farm begins.

Sunday: I spent the day resting from our hike yesterday. Had a great talk with Sina, Elias and Moritz (greetings to the three), then with my parents and in the evening we went with Frida to Calgary downtown to a festival, which takes place every year. Nevermind, I wrote the line one day before. Frida went trail riding in the mountains and came back soo late, so that we couldn´t go anymore. I was a bit upset. Anyway…

I am now looking forward to my last week here on the farm and my stay in Calgary Downtown together with Lina and Sandra. Reporting. I also probably found a travel buddy for the West Coast Trail ( if you want to read about it already: https://blickgewinkelt.de/west-coast-trail-kanada-fernwandern/ ) and the planned road trips. I’m rooting for you all in Germany and from where you all are reading this post. See you very soon.

Your Tom

Monday: First day of work for this week. I wasn´t excited to get up so early. Anyways, started at 8 and finished at 12. Took a bit longer, becasue we had to set up another pen for a new horse coming tomorrow. Anyways, this day is the day of halftime. Excactly😊 Half of my time here in Canada is over. Unbelievable… 5 months passed away like nothing… 5 more to go. After Lunch La teached med. She has her horse Guiness here and rides him every day. After she rode him she asked me if I wanna get teached by her how to ride english. Of course I wanted. All around the world you´ve got different kinds of riding, but the most common are western and english. Back on the other farm I rode three times western, now I am starting here to ride english. Completely different, but La is a really good teacher and she tried to explain and helped me with everything. I just realised that riding is more than just sitting on a horse and move a bit for and back. You have to feel your partner with all your body parts. I was so overwhelmed about doing five things at the same time. Back straight, legs straight, to the front, heals back, soulders back, stomach strong, coming up, coming down in the rhythm of the horse. I started bad and good better really fast. My sitting trot was amazing, but my rising trot was awful, well maybe not awful, but not good☹ BUT! I still got time to practice.

Tuesday: I woke up and felt like the day after an intense 90-min soccer game. For real! Playing on Sunday at 11, coming home at 2, Lunch, couch, sleep. Getting up with such sour muscles and then to school. I like this feeling, but not if you feel so tired and exhausted, like I feel now. Didn´t even have the power for anything. We cleaned the paddocks, made the chores and then I watched Champions League and felt asleep while watching. Riding is not a „Zuckerschlecken“ xD Further I booked a Flight to Vancouver for mid march. Looking forward to it. La brought the country cross ski equipment of her husband this morning. I will try it the next couple days here on the property. Well, not country cross, but I think to learn and to start with it, a good place.

Thursday: We had a tough schedule. Got up, had breakfast, then went to morning chores. Doesn´t sound so special so far, but after lunch we went to the dentist. Yes, dentist. Weh ad to clean the teeth. Don´t be scared… not mine or Bev´s… we went to see a horse dentist. It was really interesting… We loaded the horses into the trailer (took 3 with us), drove over there and were able to see how a horse dentist cleanes the teeth of a horse. Further weh ad Giz with us, who had couple weeks ago a surgery, because she had an abcess, and they pulled her tooth. A huge tooth, such as bi gas my hand. Obviously there is a huge hole in her mouth and they checked it again. They gave her some drugs and it was just so funny how knocked out she has been. She walked like a drunk version of a duck. Anyway, I was allowed to take a look into the mouth of a horse, saw the big hole and could take part in the whole procedure. It was quiet interesting. Horses get their teeth done twice a year, some oft hem only once. BTW… on Saturday the danish girl is going to come… First time at all that I am going to work together with a girl from another country except Germany. I am looking forward to it. Especially because she is the same age, danish and doing the same as I do. Anyway, thats what I expected from a year abroad. Lots of different people from different cultures😊 Thanks Covid:)

Friday: Beautiful weather, 0 degree, sun… I sit on the proch with a beer in my hand in the afternoon and just relaxed. The cool thing about canadien winter or more the winter in Alberta ist hat you have almost no rain, no grey sky and not a lot of clouds. That means it´s cold, but beautiful. Completely different to Germany. Germany is always wet, grey and jacky… Like it here more, maybe I´ll stay here and sattle… just kidding😊 I promise I come back as long as you want me coming back xD

Saturday: Day off. Had a phone call at 10 with Pauline, then we  played „Doppelkopf“ and I planed my next travel a bit. Tomorrow we are going for a hike, maybe. We don´t know so far. Danish Girl arrives soon, gonna tell you about her.

Sunday: We left the house around 9. Frida, a 20 years old, girl, lives 20 min north of Kopenhagen. She is really nice, we got along each other and had enough time to get to know each other better. We went for a hike in the rockies on that day. She just came three weeks ago from Denmark. She bought a car and drove down here tot he farm, so we went to the 1 hour far away hike in Canmore. It said that we would see a beautiful Canyon, a frozen Waterfall and beautiful nature. Actually, tob e honest, at the end I was a bit disappointed. We didn´t find the watefall, but met some nice people, we hiked some parts together. Anyway, after that we went home and I just relaxed. I am still making plans about my future. Next couple of weeks and month are gonna get cool😊

Monday: Reminder from yesterday. In the evening I watched my firs Super Bowl during day light😊 I loved it. Since I started watching College Football together with Shain back on the old farm, I know the rules and definitley enjoy watching it. Unfortunately, the match wasn´t exciting, more boring, but I liked the evening anyway. Weh ad junk food, watched the Super Bowl with a beer, well, some beers… just like all the americans xD So it was a nice evening. I wanna start this week planning what I am gonna do after this farm stay. I don´t wanna spend too much time here, maybe 4 to 6 weeks and then i d k so far. Currently, it is so cold here. My eyelashes now freeze when I’m out longer and stick together. Weird feeling. Always something new to experience and to see 😉 Now I am sitting in front of the oven, with a beer, watching hockey with John and writing this blog. I defninitley wanna plan something for the weekend, just don´t know so far. Let u k asap.

Wednesday: Worked my ususal shift, then I Went with John to the City. Costco, went to pick up a car… Bev received a request on workaway from a danish girl. Perhaps she will come on the 20th. That would be so cool. First time that I will spend time with a girl who is not from Germany. Looking forward to it. Her name is Frida (greetings to Frieda Eckert;)), 20 years old. She is just going to spend 3 weeks here, but I am planning to stay the same length like her. SO this doesn´t matter. ANYWAYS😊 See u soon frida xD

Thursday: Tom, head chef of the Black Whiskey Ranch, made his world known Lasagne. Everybody liked it, well, of course😉…

Friday: After a week we cleaned the paddocks again. Horrible… Last days it was always too cold to do it. Now we had only minus 20 degrees, that means that we cleaned them. And after a week it was really a pain in the neck to do that. It took three persons 2 hours and after this my back hurt. BUT! Because we did such a good we went afterwards together to Wendy´s, a fastfood restaurant in south of Calgary. But it´s not like MCD or BK, it´s really good. I had poutine and a burger, really good😊

Saturday: First of my two days off. I got up, breakfast, had a phone call with my parents and discussed my plans for the future. Then we played „Doppelkopf“ online. Around 4 pm, John brought me to the train station south in Calgary. I headed Downtown, 3 Bucks for a drive to downtown, 30 minutes, pretty good. I went tot he next CIBC Branch, beacause I had to deposit money. Further I wanted to buy some stamps, but all Canada Post branches were closed. Too bad. Anyway, then it was 5 pm, I met Sandra and Lina at the train station. Maybe u don´t remember them, they were the two girls which I met on the farm Haute Goat. We had two beautiful months there together. They are since almost 2 months here in Calgary, living Downtown and both got a job. Lina in a bakery as a server and Sandra as Housekeeping, but not anymore. Anyways, we were looking for a bar, a pub or a restaurant close to the train station. Since Monday the restaurants, bars … are reopened in Alberta. Well, we find a nice place called „Local“. A pretty new and modern bar with some nice waitresses;) Weh ad some drinks, ate something and just had a good time. It was really a bit akward after almost half a year. I mean sitting in a bar, restaurant with other people. A bit feeling of life. I really enjoyed it, because I wasn´t used to it anymore. Around 8:30 we left the bar and I drove home with the train and John picked me up again. Something normal during these strange times😊 Something about Calgary. I really can´t recommend to go there. So if u r planning to go there one day, better think twice. This city doesn´t have to offer that much for a city with a million people living there. Downtown isn´t Downtown, the „Calgary Tower“, build after the CN Tower, looks like a small and shitty version of it. Anyway, I haven´t seen that much, also because of the less time, but I wasn´t impressed of Calgary.

Sunday: Just realised on my day off that I am now 5 months here. Halftime😊 Didn´t do anything today😊 Stay safe at home, enjoy your „SNOW“ and the cold. Greetings from Canada btw: minus 35 degress .

Monday: Got up at 7. Worked from 8 to 12 in the barn. Daily morning chores. After this weh ad lunch, then we cleaned the horse paddock outside and Bev took me afterwards to CIBC and Walmart. I got a canadien bank account and got a SIM Card. Finally I got mobile Data xD We came back, Horses back to their pen and then Spare Ribs in the evening 😉 OMG, so excited and so good.

Tuesday: It was really not a special day and we didn´t do a lot. My plans of buying a car… yes I would say, that maybe I found a car. Volkswagen Golf 2012. Now I´ll wanna ask John if we can go and visit it. Also I have to start figuring out which insurance I would take, then I have to think about getting in contact with the person who sells it, I need a driver license… So I really don´t know if I am going to do it, but I mean why shouldn´t I do it? Well, of course there is a lot of paper work, but it is nice to have one. The most important thing ist hat I am gonna get rid of it at the end of my year abroad. So I will definitley just keep the car for max. 3 months😊

Wednesday: I am getting used tot he morning chores and the routine in the house. Weh ad 15cm of snow and most important thing oft he day: I SAW A MOOSE!!!! It was a little cute baby moose😊 But it was so cool, it was about 100m far away from us and the horses, so I couldn´t take a good picture o fit, but I still loved it. Hopefully when i am leaving the Farm I am gonna see some more oft hem. I guess it will be the same like seeing elephant on a safari. At the beginning you are so excited about seeing one and at the end you are saying: „Ohhh another elephant.“ I think my lovely parents know about it😉 A cool day and hopefully more to come. I am looking forward tot he next days. Kathrin is probably leaving the farm on Monday, that means I will be completely alone with John and Bev.

Thursday and Friday were some normal days. I´ve been on the Farm, worked my normal shift and we always had some nice Dinners. Nothing special. NVM… Thursday was on oft he coolest days so far. Unbelievable, Breathtaking and awesome. I´ve done the morning chores together with Bev and then she brought me to John and Kathrin, they were somewhere in the city, because they needed something for the car. Anyway, John, Kathrin and me we went to Banff. Banff, most knwon city in the rockies. Yes, directly in the rockies. Banff is not so special, well I didn´t like it, because it is just a tourist small city. A lot of souvenir shops… Anyway we just drove around, but it was like these touri buses. I really liked it. They showed me me Banff and all that stuff around. But the best thing was the Lake Minnewanka. There is one good thing about Covid. No tourists. Well, in Winter there aren´t lots of tourists anyway, but now, with Covid, nothing. So we went on the frozen Lake, around us all the huge Mountains, just beautiful. I definitley wanna come back here in Summer, when the seas are beautiful blue and the nature awakes. Winter is cool, but summer is in my opinion cooler. Anyway I will attach some pictures. And Friday St.Pauli won their 4th game oft he last 5. Awesome tow days😊

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Saturday and Sunday: Both day were my days off. First time since 5 months that I have two day in a row off. Watched soccer, called my parents, called Lili, watch my series and didn´t do anything.

Stay healthy,

Tom