Happy New Year

2014

Happy New Year, crazy people. 

I hope you had a good New Year's Eve! Mine was very relaxed, nothing exciting happened. I was in Vancouver with the family and spent the evening playing Mahjong with the kids.

I don't really have a very exciting New Year's Resolution so I'm not gonna post it here!

I'm gonna be busy studying for finals the next couple weeks, so there won't be many posts. 

The weather has been acting crazy. It snows a lot, we had a blizzard and the temperature went down to -4 degrees Fahrenheit. We just had three snowdays in a row, thanks to that, and I have been spending my time very productively, watching New Girl and drinking tea. To all my Germans: a snowday is like Hitzefrei but for a whole day. 

By the way: I have accepted the 100-Day-Challenge. It works like this. For 100 days I have to excercise every day for at least 20 minutes and at least 3 times a week, the excercise has to be cardio. If I miss a day, I have to pay 50 cents for every day that is still left! Almost the whole family is doing this so when the 100 days are over, we're all gonna compare results. 

Lynn Canyon

My family took me to this place in Vancouver, called Lynn Canyon Park. It has a suspension bridge and a waterfall and the most beautiful turquoise water I've ever seen. I wish I could have stayed there longer, just walking around, admiring nature. 

Those trees were sooo tall!

This is actually the only picture of me on the suspension bridge that isn't blurry, because either me or my dad were shaking - it was actually pretty scary... 

You can't see it on the picture, but this tree stem was really high up on a hill and I was walking on the pathway when I saw it and just jumped up there without thinking.. It's a little out of focus because I had to zoom in because whoever took the picture was standing somewhere a little more safe. 

Perfect Day. 

Xoxo, S

Candycane Lane

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2013

So Christmas was very different this year. It was the first time I spent the holidays apart from my family but my new family kept me way too busy to get homesick.  

New Years Day itself was extra busy. We were in Seattle in the morning and in Vancouver in the evening. We (my hostmum's sister Gale's family, auntie Gina, my hostparents, Maya, Quentin and me) left from Seattle early in the morning and went on a roadtrip up to the grand parents' house in Vancouver. In the end we were like 27 people. The food was fantastic, I got the best giftts from my family and it was just a really fun christmas. 

A few nights after Christmas we went to a street in Vancouver called Trinity Street. The houses in Trinity St are famous for their Christmas light, in fact, they enter a Christmas Light competition every year! It reminded me a lot of Candycane Lane in New Girl, so that's the explanation for the post title. I should actually start explaining the titles because I heard from people that my post titles are confusing.. 

The grand-children. From left to right: Matthew, Quentin, Nathalia, Nathaniel, Faith, Maya, Jennifer, Trinity, Me, great-aunt, Sam, grand-mom, Mycah grand-dad, Jack

Those were my favorite houses in Trinity St. The lights were just amazing. The third one was so creative. They had their own radio station with music that matched the lights (or did the lights match the music) and you could tune in from you car and listen to the music while watching! Sorry for the bad quality, I was too lazy to get out of the car, so I shot the pictures as we drove by. 

And sorry about the blabbering in the background, but I just had to share this video. 

VAN CITY

On the first day in Vancouver auntie Gina and my dad took me, my sister and two of our cousins on a sight seeing trip. I love this city, it is so full of life and the people are really nice and welcoming. We took the sky train around the city to get an overview of the city and of the harbor. After that we took the sea bus over to Lonsdale Quay Market to get lunch and to see the skyline of Vancouver.

Back in the city we went to see the waterfront and the Olympic Fire monument.

Awesome day!

SkyTrain 

 Vancouver Skyline (View from the SeaBus)

Maya and me 

Maya, me, auntie Gina, Nathalia and cousin Faith

The Olympic Fire