Howdy! Since I have mostly blogged in Finnish, I decided it is time to tell you non-Finnish speakers what I/we have been up to this summer (since my last post in English).
My family finally made it to Vancouver and they had a busy visit. That was partly my fault as I wanted them to see as much as possible. They arrived here on Sunday August 19th and flew back to Finland last Friday, August 31st. Jari was on a business trip to South Korea, China and Hong Kong on the first week so the my family stayed at our place. I have to say 5 people staying in our loft was a squeeze and our one bathroom sure was a bottleneck.
We had a rental car for a week and we did an overnight trip to Seattle, drove up to Whistler for a day and visited a few places around Vancouver. I did most of the driving and we had a granny-Buick as our rental, yay. We had a few meals with our relatives from Toronto, Aira and Tia, after they returned from their cruise to Alaska. Jari got home from his trip on Sunday and by then my parents and siblings were settled in the furnished condo I rented for them for the second week. Last week I had the Monday off and was working the rest of the week, only half a day on Friday though as I had to drive my parents to the airport. I hope the liked Vancouver. I think they are still jetlagged and not quite planning a new trip yet.
I have been working since June, part-time till last week and today I started full-time. I really like the job, I finally found something in the tourism industry. I work as a project coordinator at a destination management company; we organize meetings, incentive trips, small conferences and events for incoming (mostly European groups). It is a small office, only 3 of us so I get to do everything. I'm still learning though and I have to say every day is different. It doesn't get boring. :-)))
I'm a little concerned about what is to come. I was so busy planning the trip for my family and spending time with them that now I have to learn all new routines. I know it will be tough, not having as much spare time as I used to and I already sit in front of the computer at work all day, don't necessarily want to do the same at home. I'm going to give myself plenty of time to get used to the new routines. I try to relax a bit when it comes to keeping the apartment clean, otherwise I will ban any guests from our home. I'm proud of our home but as I pay attention to dust etc much more than Jari, we'll see where the cleanliness standards are set. Jari and I work the same hours per week but he leaves home before me and arrives later, I will have a challenge making him do chores. I've spoilt him rotten over the years...
Enough about that... I just realized I haven't done that much hiking this summer, even the traditional hike to Elfin Lakes hasn't happened this summer. Taking a look at the calendar, I don't think we'll do much hiking this season. Oh well... At least Jari has done quite a few hikes with friends, good for him. I was brave enough to go river rafting in the end of July. I was a bit nervous about it but it was a fun day with Anna-Maija and Niina out in Squamish.
On the August long weekend we headed to Ucluelet with Soile and Viivi. The nature is amazing on the west coast of Vancouver Island from rugged coastline to old growth rain forest. We have been in that area once before, in January and the weather was a bit warmer now but the ocean is freezing cold and we had to endure the same foggy weather as in winter. We had fun camping and I want to go to Tofino again, there's some magic there. Check out pics from our trip here.
When we were in Seattle they told in the news that only 4 weekends this summer have been rain-free there. The same applies to Vancouver, here we've had almost average amounts of sunshine this summer but the rainy weather has been clever enough to ruin many weekends for us. I guess the two previous summers were excellent weather wise and this one feels like it has been a shitty one in comparison. Jari had luck when he was on vacation in July, I think it was the only 2 week period without rain and it was sunny & warm too.
The time has gone by fast, the summer is almost over. Schools started today and weather was rainy and very autumn-like in the morning. I hope we'll get to enjoy nice and sunny days till the end of the month, as in previous years. The rainy season usually starts in the beginning of October.
My family finally made it to Vancouver and they had a busy visit. That was partly my fault as I wanted them to see as much as possible. They arrived here on Sunday August 19th and flew back to Finland last Friday, August 31st. Jari was on a business trip to South Korea, China and Hong Kong on the first week so the my family stayed at our place. I have to say 5 people staying in our loft was a squeeze and our one bathroom sure was a bottleneck.
We had a rental car for a week and we did an overnight trip to Seattle, drove up to Whistler for a day and visited a few places around Vancouver. I did most of the driving and we had a granny-Buick as our rental, yay. We had a few meals with our relatives from Toronto, Aira and Tia, after they returned from their cruise to Alaska. Jari got home from his trip on Sunday and by then my parents and siblings were settled in the furnished condo I rented for them for the second week. Last week I had the Monday off and was working the rest of the week, only half a day on Friday though as I had to drive my parents to the airport. I hope the liked Vancouver. I think they are still jetlagged and not quite planning a new trip yet.
I have been working since June, part-time till last week and today I started full-time. I really like the job, I finally found something in the tourism industry. I work as a project coordinator at a destination management company; we organize meetings, incentive trips, small conferences and events for incoming (mostly European groups). It is a small office, only 3 of us so I get to do everything. I'm still learning though and I have to say every day is different. It doesn't get boring. :-)))
I'm a little concerned about what is to come. I was so busy planning the trip for my family and spending time with them that now I have to learn all new routines. I know it will be tough, not having as much spare time as I used to and I already sit in front of the computer at work all day, don't necessarily want to do the same at home. I'm going to give myself plenty of time to get used to the new routines. I try to relax a bit when it comes to keeping the apartment clean, otherwise I will ban any guests from our home. I'm proud of our home but as I pay attention to dust etc much more than Jari, we'll see where the cleanliness standards are set. Jari and I work the same hours per week but he leaves home before me and arrives later, I will have a challenge making him do chores. I've spoilt him rotten over the years...
Enough about that... I just realized I haven't done that much hiking this summer, even the traditional hike to Elfin Lakes hasn't happened this summer. Taking a look at the calendar, I don't think we'll do much hiking this season. Oh well... At least Jari has done quite a few hikes with friends, good for him. I was brave enough to go river rafting in the end of July. I was a bit nervous about it but it was a fun day with Anna-Maija and Niina out in Squamish.
On the August long weekend we headed to Ucluelet with Soile and Viivi. The nature is amazing on the west coast of Vancouver Island from rugged coastline to old growth rain forest. We have been in that area once before, in January and the weather was a bit warmer now but the ocean is freezing cold and we had to endure the same foggy weather as in winter. We had fun camping and I want to go to Tofino again, there's some magic there. Check out pics from our trip here.
When we were in Seattle they told in the news that only 4 weekends this summer have been rain-free there. The same applies to Vancouver, here we've had almost average amounts of sunshine this summer but the rainy weather has been clever enough to ruin many weekends for us. I guess the two previous summers were excellent weather wise and this one feels like it has been a shitty one in comparison. Jari had luck when he was on vacation in July, I think it was the only 2 week period without rain and it was sunny & warm too.
The time has gone by fast, the summer is almost over. Schools started today and weather was rainy and very autumn-like in the morning. I hope we'll get to enjoy nice and sunny days till the end of the month, as in previous years. The rainy season usually starts in the beginning of October.
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