Paul explaining something at the white water river close to the Niagara Falls

I personally like this video-though I know that nothing happens in it. It's a video showing the white water river-the water which comes from the Niagara Falls. Paul is explaining something, which he always does. I like him when he does that...but the river is also really pretty without his comments:)

Just imagine going down this river on a raft. Or in a *regenton*, which a lot of people did. With your head sticking out. With your pet dog. With your beloved. People did this. Our idea was to make a round steal construction, with a plexiglass ball inside, then some oil, then another plexiglass ball with a heavey weight at the bottom. And then you sit in that, and you go down the river. Safe but still exciting :)

Toronto -een fotoreportage

Amazing things I did in Canada

And now an update of my adventures in Canada-or I guess it's more like a downdate, cause it all happened more than a week ago, when I was still there. But this blog is also for me, to look back at when I'm 90 years old and ponder about how cool I was when I was 20 years old. And how the world changed. And, dear grandchildren, how everything was better then. Always better. Just so you know.

Anyway.

Final Adventures In Canada:

#1: I went to a drive-in cinema.

I hear you think... a drive-in cinema?

How cool is that! And yes, dear readers, the answer must be: very,

very cool. The funny thing about drive-ins is that even here, in North America, they are incredibly oldfashioned. Nobody I spoke to in Kingston had even heard that there was a drive-in-cinema in their own town. Which is sad, because they are very exciting places. It's like you're at the end of the world. You drive upon a field, position your car in front of the screen, and tune the radio to the right channel-which is the sound of the movie. Fortunately Paul's car had a really good stereo system-proper surround sound, and the movie was great -The rise of the planet of the apes.

#2 Paul and I went onto the highway, and highways have 16 lanes here.

#3 We arrived in Toronto. Which is a super duper great city. SUPER DUPER, did you hear me? I know super duper doesn't sound very exciting to everybody, but it's a very hip and beautiful city. I would almost want to study there. You should all visit Toronto. In fact, I will put up some pictures in the next post to show

how cool toronto is.

#4 In Toronto we went to a really fun nerdy store, with lots of hardware supplies (Pauls idea). And I enjoyed it a lot. The slogan of the store was "we buy everything, we sell everything".

And they made it true, to a large

extent.

Things they sold:

-Doll-legs

-Small plastic cap thingeys

-Nylon balls

-Scissors with 6 blades

-Teddy-bear eyes. (I bought those. I'm planning to sew my own teddybear sometime soon...pictures will follow).

May it be obvious to you that this store was

awesome and amazing.

-After staying in Toronto for a day, we went to Niagara falls, on the Canadian side #5.

Now let me give you a little word of advice:

Don't go to Niagara falls.

Or, in any case, don't go to the Falls in high season. The motels are expensive, and it's so crowded with people it's almost scary.

Niagra falls is a peculiar place. It's really touristy, and because of that there is no possibility to park anywhere near the falls unless you

want to pay 20 dollars for it. The city center is what I would imagine Las Vegas to be like. Lights, blinking lights, a LOT of people, and a bunch of ways to keep yourself busy which make me really sad. Like gambling. Like seeing a 4D movie of the Niagara falls, which are 200 meters away from the cinema. Like eating fast food. Like going up in a tower (which is a duplicate of a tower in Toronto, but now with a restaurant in the top), where you get a view for free-if you pay 35 dollars.

And if you walk outside of the center, with its blinking lights, tourists, fake waterfalls and dinosaurs (yes, I believe I saw one), the town is empty. Deserted. A non-place, I would almost say.

BUT

The falls are beautiful. That must be said.

#6 Paul and I walked an old bridge to the USA, which was closed down. Camera's were pointing at us. We were a tiny bit scared. But not very scared, dear grandchildren, because Weike is a very brave and reckless 2o-year old. So we went up until where the camera's were, took a picture, and ran away:)

#7 I took the bus to NYC

News from New York City.

I know I didn`t update my blog in a while. The internet is not ideal here, Ill update later about my final adventures in Canada and my adventures in NYC.

But for now, just a short update about New York general extravaganza:

New York is treating me well. New York loves me. In fact, it loves me so much, it doesn`t want me me to leave. My flight for tomorrow hasn`t been cancelled yet, and I hope that that won`t happen, but it might. Because a hurricane is coming. Her name is Irene and she`s very excited to get to know us. Lower parts of New York City are being evacuated, Pauls mother (whom I`m staying with) has bought lots of candles and food. They told us on the radio that there is a possibility of a blackout which could last days, the subways might flood, anyway, New York is preparing for a catastrophe.

I, personally, don`t think it`s going to be that serious. But the measures that are being taken are. Tomorrow at 2pm they`re stopping all public transport. All. Public. Transport. Excuse me? Is this New York City? If you really want a baby boom nine months later, you should definitely stop public transport, with the possibility of a total black out as well. When a city as crowded as this is stuck together in the dark, with only candles to light their faces and rain pouring down outside, things are bound to happen. But anyway. Who am I to decide. And I quite like baby`s.

So yes. I just figured I should update this, `cause it`s exciting! I like storms. Not sure whether I like hurricanes though, and I hope that I won`t have to be here while it happens. Just some general information to show how safe I am: - Pauls mother lives on a hill. - My flight is leaving at 4 pm, and the hurricane is said to arrive in the evening. - Irene is not going to follow me all the way to california.

I`ll be having a seat at the window tomorrow, flying away from new york. Ill take some pictures of the dark clouds (if i can see them at all) and post them here.

Love from New York City

Weike:)

Hochelaga inn

I want to buy milk but milk is expensive but I have a brownie in my hand and milk would go sooo well with that.

So I need a plan

A plan to make money

In a co-op café:

"hey ...i was wondering, i'm on a holiday here and im kind of bored, would you maybe like somebody to work here for a week? I don't need a lot of money, it would just be cool if I could make a bit"

"oh that's so cute, I'll ask"

"...."

"No"

So. If the co-op café doesn't want me, i don't think anybody would like to employ me for a week. Especially since, you know, I'm not actually allowed to work in Canada.

But the milk is just too damn expensive! (not to mention that I intend to go to Niagara falls this weekend:P).

bzzt

Idea (this is how this idea sounded in my head, sometimes they sound

differently. I love the ones which are like lillibabadingdang, they are usually fun ideas. This one is fun too, but bzzt ideas usually require a lot of work)

How about.... I make linoprints of the inn accross the street, Hochelaga inn (i like the name...sounds like "highlow" inn). I have lino stuff anyway. And it's a beautiful building. I bet they want authentic lino postcards. And, most importantly: It'll be fun:) (keeps me off the streets, you know, dangerous kingston streets...with ghosts everywhere -did you know that the city park was actually a graveyard, and they just flattened the graves and put grass over it? If you walk on the

grass without shoes you can still feel the gravestones...)

So here i go.

Pictures:

1: the house

2: the sketch

3: the prints (wait, is that paint on the floor...shhh don't tell Connor..maybe he won't notice)

4: the end product.

Did anybody buy them? No. (Not yet). But hey. I had fun. And it kept me off the streets. Almost as good as milk. Almost.

Bliksem in de duinen

So yeah. And then we went to the dunes. For a swim, and a picnic and with the intention of camping there. Without a tent. And ...well. There was lightning...and rain. So we ended up going home early. Which we were REALLY happy we did cause the moment we were in the car it started to rain so badly we could hardly see the road, and the lightning got closer and closer. It was beautiful.

This is what the dunes looked like:

And to show you how lovely the lightning was, I made a small video:)

Canada is pretty. Pw-ett-y.

Lino Cutting

The next adventure was lino cutting:) Paul, paul's friends and I had a lino cutting party yesterday, where we made designs and prints, while all huddling comfortably in front of the fireplace with marshmellows and pancakes (it was really cold).

Anyway. We didn't actually cut *lino*, but big erasors (really big, for really big mistakes)...they were cheaper and they worked just as well.

Look at the bookmarks I made:)

Monster I drew

Opinions as to what it is are divided. Paul says it's a crocodile dog, Connor says....I don't even remember what he said, it was a combination of five different things. To me, it was just a combination of a long rainy afternoon and a website full of audio-fairy tales (http://www.denjobi.com/voorlezen/ --> check it out, he's very good. Also if you want to learn Dutch).

Right now it's happily hanging in Connor's living room and making me happy and bringing Connor luck, apparently:)

The day I had my first poutine...

The day i had my first poutine was a day in which the rain poured down on the deserted streets without having the intention to stop. It poured and poured and the streets went blank, all the squirrels climbed (or more like ran) up the trees to keep themselves safe, all the people and insects and animals who couldnt climb or fly were afraid they would drown...until suddenly a boat came floating into the kingston streets, a boat which seemed to be the saviour to all of us. I was outside and my shoes were wet and i didn't care much cause they were sandals anyways -you know, they dry in a splitsecond- but there was a ladybug on my leg which had lost a wing and that ladybug desparately needed my help. There was also a birdnest in my hair and even though i had the idea that it would never get that far, i wanted to be sure that those cute little fluffy chicks would be safe. So when the boat passed by the street where i was standing with my wet sandals and the birdnest with two baby chicks, i climbed on board. It was a most extraordinary boat. It seemed...like a snackbar. Wait, it *was* a snackbar. In the midst of all this terrible climatechange-like-downpour, the boat which saved us was a floating canadian snackbar. What a business concept! Interesting was, that they didn't sell any normal snacks. They didn't sell french fries like i was used to in my wet little home coutry, but instead they sold something called poutine. "p-p-p-outine", muttered the ladybug into my ear, where it had crawed into to stay dry. "I would love some lovely canadian poutine. It's the only thing that makes me feel proud of Canada. That, and the floating snackbars." Even though that seemed like quite a strange thing to be proud of, i figured i'd better humor the little thing ( I mean, it *was* hiding in my ear, and it tickled terribly) and i ordered a small portion. The guy behind the counter put some fries into a plastic cup...my mouth started to water until the guy (most inexpectedly, though the ladybug hummed happily in my ear) got a big spoon, and -oh horror- put a thick layer of gravy on top of the fries, and he finished it off with some fresh cheese curds. Then he grabbed another handful of fries, pushed it on top of the ones which were already there, puhed them down violently so that it would fit into the cup, and again topped it up with the horribly unpleasant gravy-curd-combination.

"yummm" buzzed the ladybug, who turned out to be able to fly after all, and she flew on top of the poutine and started to slobber it all up. I was kind of pissed at her for that, because she fooled me in that sense, but when she payed for the poutine we were ok again.

"you should taste it", she said, and because she payed -and she was a talking ladybird- i gave it a shot and put a forkfull in my mouth.

"Ugggg" I thought, but i didn't say it out loud-so as not to hurt the ladybird's canadian pride-she was from Quebec. It was exactly as unpleasant as it looked. I enclosed a picture to give you an idea. Fortunately the ladybird didn't ask me to have another bite, seeing that the two little chicks had already started eating it and it was almost finished and the ladybird wanted to have as much for herself as possible.

Anyway. The flood ended and the boat put me off in front of my house.

It was quite a nice day, nontheless.

Sketches

Question of the day: Why doesn't the giraffe topple over?

On a quest to buy milk in Canada-fail

Hey. Canada. It's MILK, not white gold:S

No milk for me today, I'm afraid...scaaary canadians

Hidden treasures in creepy north american malls

Look at what I bought! The most awesome alarm clock ever:)

I mean, who would NOT want such a beauty to wake you up every morning

How Weike ended up in Canada

I flew!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, finally my childhood dream of being able to fly has come true. Well...childhood dream...I still dream that i can fly sometimes, but that's never really flying, it's more like floating. You know, you hold your breath and push yourself off off the ground and then you can jump really far and go higher and higher as long as you don't breathe out. A bit like jigglypuff, ony then without blowing up like a balloon.

But anyway, this time flying was a bit more effective. 11km high, 900 km an hour, and I didn't even have to hold my breath (though i did when taking off-im sure it helped).

And then, ladies and gentlemen, I landed. In the land of bears and people who speak french in a funny way. In Canada.

What kind of adventures did i have on day 1?

Well.

I got picked up by paul. Adventure 1.

We drove down to Kingston from Montreal. #2

During a picknick at a big river i stepped in poison ivy several times without realizing. Poison ivy is a nasty weed growing in north america and when you touch it, you get an allergic reaction or something after an hour. The plant puts oil on your skin and somehow that will start to go really itchy. Or something. Fortunately I washed it off with water and soap and didn't get any reaction (yet). #3

We got pulled over by the police (in a HUGE car) because he got a call that someone was driving very slowly on the highway and he was wondering whether maybe we were drunk. The speed limit on the highway was 80km/h. We drove 80. When we told him that the officer said "yeah, we're not used to people abiding by the speedlimit here". The rest of the drive we decided to drive 100 so that we wouldn't be stopped again. #4

It was 30 degrees celsius. Whenever we stopped i didn't put on my shoes and walked on the hot asphalt #5

We arrived in Kingston and I managed to stay awake till 10 pm, local time. I had been awake for 23 hours #6

I wrote my first blogpost #7

Thanks for reading:)

Liefs!

Weike

Attention: Weike has escaped from the local zoo

She was last seen boarding a plane in Brussels. If you have any knowledge of her whereabouts, please contact us 0900-findweike.