So it has begon!

Last weekend was not just Halloween (sorry no pictures of that), but also the first official weekend of snow. And although by now, most of it has molten, it was still quite magical. 

Apparently on average every winter Ottawa gets 400cm of snow!! although, last year it was only 200 (thank you global warming) this year the specialists are expecting more snow again. This might sound very exciting, but one of my ''buddies'' (seriously, thats how people call eachother in Canada) told me that the temperatures can be as low as -20C on average, which is a little bit on the cold side for me. Combined with some snow, I dont think that I will do much biking this winter. 


Biking, by the way, is something that I have doing a lot here in Canada, as the Embassy (being Dutch of course) has provided me with a bike (and 20kg of cheese) so that I can bike to work every day (and enjoy a healty breakfast). So far it has been really nice, and I have done some nice biking tours. So, generally speaking life in Canada is pretty good.


Finally, getting down to the nitty gritty: Halloween! Yes I survived. Halloween over here is something completely different from anything in Holland. except maybe Carnaval, only with the same amount of alcohol stuffed into two nights of partying. I went together with some interns of the French embassy, who I hang out with most, to a halloween party hosted by some interns at the Danish embassy. We, not understanding the true Canadian way of halloween did not resort to binge drinking till we dropped, but the Frenchies did managed to get thrown out by the Danish for some reason. In what can only be described as a great deal of diplomacy, and as a unique moment in Danish national history. 


Me, being the neutral party in this conflict was meanwhile sitting in the kitchen having drinks with the first other Dutchman, that i have met in the wild (outside of the embassy). However, I chose to join the French in going home (as they were going my way anyways). All together it was a pretty fun night, and another succesful weekend. Looking forward to the next one. 


Oh and I will try to upload some pictures with actual people on them, because so far you must think that no-one actually lives in Canada.