A Great Visit from my Spanish/Catalan Family

Coming up to seven years ago, the sixth form at my former school did a foreign exchange program, which involved a group of Spanish students and a group of English students partnering up and spending two weeks with each other in each others respective countries, so two weeks in England and then two weeks in Spain. I was in Year 11 at the time, but because I wanted to do Spanish at university, which I did, I was allowed onto this program and I was given the partner who had the best English, so that I wouldn't struggle as much. This partner turned out to be a lovely girl called Ariadna and after meeting her at the airport with my Dad, her, my family and I got on like a house on fire. Then, when I went to stay with her family for two weeks, it was the same reaction, two weeks of great hospitality, good fun and we have kept in touch ever since and always ask about each others respective families and friends. Recently, the sister of Ariadna, Núria, came over for a course in my old university, which was only from September until the end of December, so I met up with her a couple of times and then, a few weeks ago, her family paid her a visit and I tagged along too. It was great not only to see them all again and catch up, but also to practice my Catalan, something which is difficult to do because I do not have many friends over here to practice with. Anyway, it was a great day and I got a picture taken with all of them. They all enjoyed Liverpool and hopefully will return one day.

My First Ever CFL Game

On my last full day with my girlfriend on my visit to Canada, we went to a Calgary Stampeders game. The Calgary Stampeders are a Canadian football team (football as like American football, just that Canadian American football sounds weird!) Anyway, it was my first ever CFL game, but also the first ever game for my girlfriend, so it was a great 'first time ever' for the both of us, and even better that we were doing it together. The game took a while to get going but it was great fun and got the crowd involved too, with games, quizzes and all around entertainment, well done to the CFL and everybody who participated because they all did a fantastic job. Unfortunately, the only bad thing was that the Stampeders lost to this team called the Toronto Argonauts but it was a very good day and an excellent experience. Also, I went to a Wendy's for the first time ever too afterwards so it was a very productive day in all. Finally, this same match was a preview to the Grey Cup, the cup game/final for the CFL, and even though the Argonauts won that game too, it was great to say that I had seen the same match only months before. A great day, with a great woman, just a shame about the result.

British Snow!

As my beloved girlfriend is Canadian, around this time of year snow is quite common in her neck of the woods. Whereas in the United Kingdom, it is quite rare, as we always want a white Christmas and never really get one, and when we do, we usually moan about it! Anyway, as you may have seen, there has been significant snowfall in the past couple of days. So, I have decided to make the most of this and put up a picture of the British snow, which probably pales in comparison to the Canadian snow, but hey, it is snow!

Shakespeare in the Park

It has been too long since I posted a blog about my trip to Canada this past August. During the first of my two weeks there, my beautiful girlfriend and I went to see something called 'Shakespeare in the Park'. It is exactly what it says on the tin, there was a Shakespeare play done in the park in downtown Calgary. The play was A Midsummer Nights Dream and it was fantastic! There were about a handful of actors and actresses and it was a tremendous performance. It was sweet for me because I had acted in said play in primary school when I was 12 years old, so a good 10 years earlier! Oh, how time changes and the world throws up amazing things as does life in general. We both enjoyed it so very much and gave money at the end to raise funds for the acting schools in the area, a great cause for a great company and great people.

Here are a few photos of the play: