This morning we went to Cora's for breakfast [You gonna finish that Hebs? lol] where I met some of Hebs' friends, including Kyle, a Vancouver local that gave me some sights to check out. [That's where he also said he'd be visiting us over in Ottawa... and he did. Kyle is super cool, I look forward to his extended stay]I am currently on the bus to Jasper, but I'm worried becaues it's raining. Dominik, the swiss traveller, will not be there as he's travelling around with his rental car. He told me of his plans and I might meet him later, if plans permit [I never did see him again]. Right now, I'm debating on cabbing to the hostel since it's 7km out of town.
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| Cat PUNCH! no nap is safe! |
The next day, Hebert came home from an out of town orientation to find us watching more Full Metal Alchemist [so amazing how much we watched in a weekend]. We all headed out to bubbletea for some Uno and takoyaki (octopus balls) [When's the last time you played Uno? seriously]. Afterwards we checked out a halloween store and went back. That night we all went for some steaks (since we were in Alberta), and came back for some late night conversation. [The steak place we went to had some really delicious garlic mashed potatoes that were deep fried in a crispy roll. It was very very good]
That night I passed the halfways point of the FMA series before going to bed.
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| The most docile cat at an antique store... that Wakana still managed to get to bite her. |
The next day I woke up really late and we had more egg and toast. We headed over to White ave., which had a lot of hipster and specialty stores. While there, we browsed an antique store, a vintage clothing store, a retro 50s/60s store, and even a store that specializes in silver skull rings. Strangely enough, the skull ring store was owned and operated by a kindly typical looking, middle aged chinese guy. [This was actually a really fun day of exploring and discovering odd and rare things. I found a bunch of old comics at the retro store, and a bunch of strange pawn shop and kitschy things from store to store. It also rained pretty hard halfway through and we stopped for coffee. For some reason we were pretty low energy all day and all yesterday. I'm guessing it was the dreary weather]
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| Wakana and big yellow underwear. |
We headed back and stopped for dinner at a pizzeria. According to Wakana, the owner shipped in an oven and fresh ingredients to make an authentic old-world pizza. We ate the pizza (saving some slices for hebs) and headed back to continue our Full Metal marathon. [Pizza was delicious, but there was a big line at the door to get in. Still worth the trip out]
The next day I woke up really late and we had more egg and toast. We headed over to White ave., which had a lot of hipster and specialty stores. While there, we browsed an antique store, a vintage clothing store, a retro 50s/60s store, and even a store that specializes in silver skull rings. Strangely enough, the skull ring store was owned and operated by a kindly typical looking, middle aged chinese guy.
We headed back and stopped for dinner at a pizzeria. According to Wakana, the owner shipped in an oven and fresh ingredients to make an authentic old-world pizza. We ate the pizza (saving some slices for hebs) and headed back to continue our Full Metal marathon.
[oops, posted this twice]
September 12th Sunday
Edmonton!
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| Wakana and I feeling sleepy at West Ed |
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| I found Bubble Bobble between Saskatoon and Edmonton |
I arrived at night and walked to where I would meet Wakana. [Edmonton downtown is supposedly a little sketchy, I saw a few unsavouries, but I was in and out of the bus station pretty quick]Apparently the rain came with me because the ride in was really bad, but calmed down by the time I left the station. We stopped for a snack of donair and poutine. [That is the vinyl toy I got them, it's pretty silly so I'd be shocked if they put it up somewhere]
Their place [Hebs and Wakana's] is pretty nice, and they are very organized, especially with their food. All meals and ingredients were portioned out in the freezers. I took the main bed because Wakana was going to sleep later than me.
When we got up Wakana made me some eggs with toast and we headed to her campus. The campus was pretty nice, and had a big mall area with lots of stores and places to eat. I was amazed that it was there, it was the size of a small strip mall but on the campus.
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| Just happened to stumble upon a police riot demonstration |
After this we went to West Edmonton Mall. [On the way to the mall, we stopped by another mall, and saw a police demonstration with riot police. Sort of random.] The mall was nice to see, but because I am travelling and want to keep it light and inexpensive, I didn't do any real shopping. We ate some junk fast food together and had a good conversation for a lot of the day. This continued as we went to the ice rink in the mall and ate frozen yoghurt and watched figure skaters fall. [The figure skaters were all amateur kids practicing. Wakana refused to take my bets on which kid would fall next]
That night Wakana made me some really delicious soba noodles with some deep fried veggie crisps. I ate a lot of that as she introduced me to Full Metal Alchemist [Brotherhood]. We did a marathon viewing that night and went to bed. [I got hooked, but I haven't gotten around to watching it since I got back]
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| Candy that tells your fortune. After you suck it a bit, it changes color to tell you your luck. |
