face

INTERNeX Canada: INTERNeX Explorer: The other face of Canada

I saw the other face of Canada. Yes, I saw. We are living in Vancouver which is a big and international city, but the most of the Canadian places are not like Vancouver is. Actually Canada is the second largest country of the world with 9,970,000km! So Vancouver is just a little point of  a HUGE country! Canada is also famous for the nature, mountains and the lakes that you can find! In fact there are around 30.000 lakes in the country!!!! It is crazy, isn’t it?

The population of Canada in general is approximately 33.4 million. Toronto has more than 5 millions of citizen, follows for Montreal with more than 3, Vancouver with around 2, 5, Ottawa with more than 1 and finally Calgary and Edmonton with more than 1 million.

But if you add together the population of the main cities, you can realize than the bigger percentage of the population doesn’t live there. If we exclude around 10 million of people who are citizen of these places, the other 23 million lives in smalls villages in the middle of the nature!

I’ve done a little road trip around BC, but when I say little is because we haven’t gone further than 4 hours away from Vancouver  and we went to some villages that seem absolutely different! For example Lillooet which is just around 1 hour and half driving from Whistler. It was really small and we felt complete outsiders!!But for us was a really nice experience, because it is something real, authentic, that’s the other face of Canada.Smalls and quiets villages located in the middle of the wild nature where everybody knows everybody.

When you have been living abroad you understand that is not the same going somewhere to do tourism than to live and experiment the real country so even I am sure that I couldn’t live there, it was great to have the chance to see the other face of this awesome country and continue learning about it!

Cheers,

Irene

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

The A -Team

I went to see the A-team with a couple of people staying in the Staffhouse at the Scotiabank theatre last Tuesday. It was Tuesday so that meant Telus Movie Combo Deal! For only $11.70 we got the ticket, popcorn and a drink!

As I went around the house to ask people if they wanted to come along, I came to the shocking conclusion that several people in the house never even heard of the A-team.  I couldn’t believe what I heard because in the Netherlands they used to show it on TV all the time.

So for those of you that don’t know, the A-team is an American television series about a group of ex-United States Army Special Forces soldiers who work as Soldiers of fortune (soldiers for hire) while being on the run from the military because of a ‘crime they didn’t commit’. Despite the fact that there are running from the law they are always on the good side and help people in need. The show ran from 1983 until 1986.

The A-team has 4 members:

  • The leader Lieutenant-Colonel John ‘ Hannibal’ Smith, know for his excellent plans, sigars and the phrase: ‘ I Love It When A Plan Comes Together’
  • Lieutenant Templeton ‘Faceman’ Peck, usually called Face is a smooth talking con-man who uses cons to make sure the team has the supplies they need.
  • Captain H.M. ‘Howling Mad’ Murdock, who is the team’s pilot and lives in a mental institution because he is insane.
  • Sergeant First Class Bosco Albert BA ‘Bad Attitude’ Baracus. He is the team’s strong man and mechanic and has a fear of flying. The team usually uses a trick to get him into the plane, such as drugging him, knocking him unconscious etc.

The main cast of The A-Team. Clockwise from top: Murdock, B.A. Baracus, Hannibaland Faceman.

The intro of the TV show combined with the theme song are well know by everyone. If you don’t know it or would like to see it again, here it is

I thought Liam Neeson did an outstanding job portraying Hannibal in this movie, but in my book nobody can top George Peppard’s performance as Hannibal. Hannibal was my favorite character in the series and George was definitely the right man for the job. Same goes for BA, nobody can beat Mr T’s role but Quinton Jackson did a fantastic job with his character BA. And of course there was the ever loving Face, who is still persuading the ladies. In this movie the lady of his choice is Jessica Biel. And let’s not forget Murdock, in this movie it was finally reveled why BA is afraid of flying, and I wouldn’t go in to much details but I has something to do with Murdock being crazy as usual!

I was really looking forward to seeing this movie. I really wanted to know if the movie was as good as the series.  After I have seen the movie, I can honestly say that I really loved the movie. It had a good combination of humor, romance and of course fighting, shooting and blowing things up.  I really recommend everyone to go see this movie! It is so worth it!

– Manouk

Upcoming events:

June 23 PuB NiGHT at the Metropole

July 4 Bike Ride Through Stanley Park

July 8 Let’s Go Paintballing!!

July 31 – Aug. 4 Roaring Rockies Mountains Trip

Cherry Blossoms are Back!

Spring is here!

Ah…what more is there to love than seeing Vancouver’s trees blossom and bloom with pink flowers right before our eyes. That’s right, folks! It’s that time of the season again when Vancouver’s scenic landscape is covered with gorgeous pinks of cherry blossoms.  It always puts a smile on my face when I see these pink flowers glisten with the clear, blue skies behind them. My favorite cherry blossom sight seeing locations are walking down Lower Mall Street at the University of British Columbia near the Nitobe Garden and driving along Marine Drive. Reason? Mainly just because these two places are extremely accessible for me and I go to school there! Don’t fret though, these gorgeous flowers can be seen almost anywhere in Vancouver such as at Stanley Park, Queen Elizabeth Park and even in some parts of Downtown Vancouver.

Every year, the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Society, a non profit organization, organizes The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival. The Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival hosts several activities where visitors and local residents can participate in to share the blooming experience. Some of their events include entering a written haiku piece in the “Haiku Invitational Competition” and also, riding bikes in the “Bike the Blossoms” event on April 17th.

So, if you fancy writing a haiku about cherry blossoms, you should enter your submission on the VCBF website before May 31st.

And, if you are interested in viewing cherry blossoms while partaking in a great bike expedition, hurry and register with the Vancouver Area Cycling Coalition now! Each ride will cost $10 and participants can check in anytime between 10:00 AM and 12:30 PM.

For more information about the haiku competition, please visit: http://vcbf.ca/
And to register for the “Bike the Blossoms” event, please visit: http://www.greatrides.ca/

For more information about the haiku competition, please visit: http://vcbf.ca/