INTERNeX Canada: Thanksgiving special

 “A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed – to be observed on the 2nd Monday in October”. (January 31, 1957, Parliament of Canada)

Canadian Thanksgiving, one of the most famous holidays and not to be confused with the U.S. American version is celebrated at the second Monday in October. It is similar to the English and European Harvest festival, symbolizing people’s gratitude for everything given by nature or God that sustains them.

While the actual Thanksgiving holiday is on a Monday, Canadians may gather for their Thanksgiving feast on any day during the long weekend. Thanksgiving in Canada is also often a time for weekend getaways.

The traditional dish for the Thanksgiving dinner is roasted turkey, cranberries, and pumpkin pie. Watching football on TV is also a part of the modern tradition for many Canadians.

Becoming a statutory (public) holiday in 1957, Thanksgiving goes back much further than that. Besides being linked to the before mentioned European traditions, it is also a way to remember the English explorer Martin Frobisher and his search for the Northwest Passage in 1578. As it was common in those times, his journey was a difficult one; made hard and exhausting by severe weather and ice. So when Frobisher and his crew arrived in Frobisher’s Bay, they celebrated the first ceremonial Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving being a public holiday means that all government institutions are closed and also most liquor stores. Most other stores are open, though. And if you want to visit some of Vancouver’s attractions, you can check out here, which of them will be open today.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Annika

 

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 9N9-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

INTERNeX Canada: Culture Shock

Hey there!
Well, today I want to talk about one special experience I made during my first two weeks in Vancouver. I’m living within a family in North Vancouver, and across the street there are several soccer, field hockey and football fields.

But the crazy thing is that there are always people doing sports at any time: when I leave the house to go to the bus stop in the morning, but also when I leave the INTERNeX office going back to my homestay in the evening. They even play soccer on Sunday at 10 pm! Furthermore it is possible that they are playing soccer and football at the same time and in the same field! And of course there isn’t only one team playing in the field. Usually there are a couple of teams of different age practicing their sports. And as I said before – all teams at the same time. That’s crazy, isn’t it?! For example in Germany this isn’t very usual. Hence, I was very surprised and overwhelmed to see the Canadians playing soccer, football and field hockey the whole day.

Never let it be said that Canadians aren’t sporty! They are – and that’s great!

See you,
Tobias

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 9N9-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

INTERNeX Canada: Casual Friday

Hallo y’all

Today’s Casual Friday post is going to be about two people. Germans and Canadians. You wonder how I thought of this? Well, me being a German staying in Canada right now, well what do you think? Ok, no seriously… Being in Vancouver for about three weeks now, I met a few new people already. And guess what, at the moment most of our participants are German. Surprise surprise… Every time I go abroad, I feel like at least every second person I meet is from Germany as well. You kind of get the feeling that Germany itself must be somewhat deserted by now… or as I like to say, you cannot escape us 🙂

With a lot of us travelling, our customs travel as well. You all know, that the most frequent assumptions about Germans are that we are basically all Bavarians, that we love love love our beer and that we eat a lot of Bratwurst. Thinking about all this, I actually found out a few funny things: If you really want to eat a Bratwurst in Vancouver, you do not need a rustic traditional German restaurant. No, you can just go to Chinatown and eat at Bestie’s!  It has, as advertised, ‘Chinatowns finest Currywurst’!!! And if you thought we love our beer, well – think again. Because obviously some Canadians love it even more. You wonder how I figure this? Well, they even brew a special beer for their dogs! Check out this article I found and you’ll see that Germans have to kick it up a nudge to keep up with this.

So what about us trying to be a little more like Canadians for a change? I saw this YouTube video the other day and found that actually quite fitting. So take this as an instruction to blend a bit more in with the natives 🙂

I would say: Challenge accepted!  I expect to see a few more Canadians at the next PuB NiGHT.

Best,

Annika

 

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 9N9-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

INTERNeX Canada: Picture of the week

Hello! How is your Saturday going? If you went yesterday with us to Relish… I’m sure that you are in the bed right now.

And the picture of the week is… Mercedes! Normally is very difficult get a picture from Mercedes… So we have to exploit this opportunity! This photo was taken in Richmond Go-Kart, when Mercedes found her own Kart… cute, it isn’t? Mercedes said that she pretended to return to Spain in the car… so funny! We love u Mercedes!

Kisses,

Clara.

INTERNeX International Exchange

Suite 200 – 211 Columbia Street
Vancouver BC -V6A 2R5-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Phone: +1 (604) 662 8149
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

INTERNeX Canada: Pub&CLuB NiGHT Announcement!

Hello everyone!

This week we don’t have the Pub Night, but, don’t worry! We have a better plan! This FRIDAY, we are going to have the PuB&Club Night!! The Place is The Relish Gastropub & Bar, in Downtown . Is a cozy place, with cheap drinks, good company of course!. DJ until 3:00 am! We are looking forward to meet all of you guys!

$3 special beer
$5.99 martinis

We have free cover until 10:00 but please, try to be punctual if you can, because our reserve is at 7:45 and after 8:15, they can’t guarantee hold our seats.

Please don’t forget to bring your passports and check the night buses! And remember to join us in our Facebook Event!

• WHEN: On Friday 17th
• WHERE: The Relish, 888 Nelson St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2S1 (MAP)

Kisses

Clara.

INTERNeX International Exchange

Suite 200 – 211 Columbia Street
Vancouver BC -V6A 2R5-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Phone: +1 (604) 662 8149
Email: pr@internexcanada.com