One of the factors influencing my decision to look for work experience in Canada for my placement year, was that I would have a language barrier to contend with. I could have gone to a whole host of countries closer to home, but not knowing a second language really hindered my options. Canada had the wildlife that I wanted to work with and the added bonus that everyone speaks English.
However, as it turns out, nothing is quite as simple as it seems. Despite not having a language barrier, things like pronunciation and colloquialisms have caused a few issues that I didn't really think about before coming here. Firstly there are a lot of Coyotes here, however for about a month I didn't know what everyone was talking about as they don't pronounce the 'e' like we do in the UK. This lead to a lot of confusion and for a while I thought I would get to see this whole new species, that I had never head about, until I realised that it was just Coyotes.
Another issue I have found is that words don't necessarily mean the same in Canada as they do in the UK. For example the word knackered to me means tired, exhausted. Here it does not mean that. It means drunk. This caused much hilarity when me and the other volunteer were babysitting Angelika's three year old granddaughter and when asked to take her outside to tire her out we responded with "we'll make her knackered". We were met with some very shocked looks and confused expressions followed by "What are you doing to my daughter!?". So lesson learnt, don't assume words mean the same in different countries, even if they speak the same language.
Tuesday, 19 November 2013
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Cause for celebration
This past weekend we had a group of university students from Prince George come and stay and help with the final outside clearance before winter comes. One guy knew how to use a chainsaw so we gave him the spare and together we all cleared the dead longs and branches out of the horse field. We then collected all of the waxed cardboard, that can't be recycled, and burnt the lot in three big fires, which I think more than makes up for the fact that I missed bonfire night.
Also while the uni group were here, we got the surprise of our lives as, while up on the hill, a large male moose, with shovel antlers, approached the feeding station. I was told earlier on in the year that as it gets closer to winter the older moose will start showing up, and that we will feed them as food can become scarce as the leaves fall and it turns colder. So far two females have shown up. Mona who was raised here in 2007 and Nikki from 2008. I was down in the kitchen when the male showed up and Angelika came driving down on the quad, shouting to get a bucket of food ready and from there it was all a blur, I grabbed a bucket of food, jumped on the quad and we shot up the hill hoping he was still there. The moose was huge! I learnt later on that it was another shelter moose, Bully, who was raised here in 2011. Apparently when he first arrived he had to be put on an IV drip so seeing him so big and healthy was definitely cause for celebration. It was also incredible news to find out that he had survived another hunting season, as sad as it is, male moose with shovels are 'prime' hunting targets.
Finally, we have another bear bringing the total up to eight. She only weighed 29lbs when she arrived, compared to Bennie, the first bear we got back in September, who weighed over 60lbs when he got here. Angelika said that as we get further along in the year the bears generally get smaller due to the limited food sources in the winter and bears that come in after the hibernation period tend to be extremely tiny! She is currently being kept in the hospital as she is so small, but despite her size she is very feisty. A few days ago I went into the hospital to clean and as I walked past her pen, she bluff charged me. Usually this is meant to be scary and intimidating, however being the tiny furball she is it was more adorable than anything, and the confused look she gave me when I just laughed instead of recoiling in fear was priceless.
Also while the uni group were here, we got the surprise of our lives as, while up on the hill, a large male moose, with shovel antlers, approached the feeding station. I was told earlier on in the year that as it gets closer to winter the older moose will start showing up, and that we will feed them as food can become scarce as the leaves fall and it turns colder. So far two females have shown up. Mona who was raised here in 2007 and Nikki from 2008. I was down in the kitchen when the male showed up and Angelika came driving down on the quad, shouting to get a bucket of food ready and from there it was all a blur, I grabbed a bucket of food, jumped on the quad and we shot up the hill hoping he was still there. The moose was huge! I learnt later on that it was another shelter moose, Bully, who was raised here in 2011. Apparently when he first arrived he had to be put on an IV drip so seeing him so big and healthy was definitely cause for celebration. It was also incredible news to find out that he had survived another hunting season, as sad as it is, male moose with shovels are 'prime' hunting targets.
Finally, we have another bear bringing the total up to eight. She only weighed 29lbs when she arrived, compared to Bennie, the first bear we got back in September, who weighed over 60lbs when he got here. Angelika said that as we get further along in the year the bears generally get smaller due to the limited food sources in the winter and bears that come in after the hibernation period tend to be extremely tiny! She is currently being kept in the hospital as she is so small, but despite her size she is very feisty. A few days ago I went into the hospital to clean and as I walked past her pen, she bluff charged me. Usually this is meant to be scary and intimidating, however being the tiny furball she is it was more adorable than anything, and the confused look she gave me when I just laughed instead of recoiling in fear was priceless.
Tuesday, 5 November 2013
A grand miscalculation
I woke up today with absolutely no idea what I wanted to write about. Inspiration has been lacking all week, and while I usually have planned out what my blog post will be days in advance, this week I honestly had no clue. So with that in mind, in true British style, if all else fails - talk about the weather.
I knew that coming here for a year I would face extreme temperatures. I arrived in mid-August and on some days it went up to thirty degrees Celsius and I found myself thinking that this wasn't what I signed up for when moving to Canada. Canada is meant to be cold, snowy and everyone gets around using snow mobiles and dog sleds. That's the stereotype right? Wrong. Summer actually got pretty hot, so hot that on some days I thought it was unbearable, however I now find myself wishing more than anything that summer would return and heat up my frosty fingers. It isn't even officially winter yet, but it already drops to minus six at night and doesn't go above zero during the day. Everything freezes and the thick layer of frost in the morning makes even walking across the bridge hazardous. The worst part of all though, I think, is going from a twenty degree heated room back into the cold, those first ten minutes outside, experiencing the huge temperature drop is pure torture!
Unfortunately for me it's only set to get colder from now on. I'm told that minus thirty is not uncommon at the height of winter and seeing as I am already wearing two pairs of leggings under my jeans now, I think an urgent shopping trip will be required pretty soon. otherwise I'm not entirely sure how I will survive. I greatly underestimated just how cold it gets here and am now paying the price. My only saving grace is that my snow boots (which have got a great deal of use despite only getting the first snowfall yesterday) keep my feet warm enough, so that's one less things I have to worry about at least.
I knew that coming here for a year I would face extreme temperatures. I arrived in mid-August and on some days it went up to thirty degrees Celsius and I found myself thinking that this wasn't what I signed up for when moving to Canada. Canada is meant to be cold, snowy and everyone gets around using snow mobiles and dog sleds. That's the stereotype right? Wrong. Summer actually got pretty hot, so hot that on some days I thought it was unbearable, however I now find myself wishing more than anything that summer would return and heat up my frosty fingers. It isn't even officially winter yet, but it already drops to minus six at night and doesn't go above zero during the day. Everything freezes and the thick layer of frost in the morning makes even walking across the bridge hazardous. The worst part of all though, I think, is going from a twenty degree heated room back into the cold, those first ten minutes outside, experiencing the huge temperature drop is pure torture!
Unfortunately for me it's only set to get colder from now on. I'm told that minus thirty is not uncommon at the height of winter and seeing as I am already wearing two pairs of leggings under my jeans now, I think an urgent shopping trip will be required pretty soon. otherwise I'm not entirely sure how I will survive. I greatly underestimated just how cold it gets here and am now paying the price. My only saving grace is that my snow boots (which have got a great deal of use despite only getting the first snowfall yesterday) keep my feet warm enough, so that's one less things I have to worry about at least.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)