Beehappy's Monday July 9th, 2012

Have wifi can now catch up on pics :)

New place seems ok. We get to go shopping for our own food this evening and cook our own meals, which will be a nice change.
Five hour working days will be great after doing over seven sometimes at the last place. Best of all... we have wifi :)

Canadians take their refrigeration seriously. Most places we've visited have several fridges/freezers. And they are huge! Photos to follow. They also have a pantry. Food is not generally kept in the kitchen cupboards. Unfortunately, here, the large fridge means they can't keep track of all the leftovers. We've been here a week and there's something in the fridge which the previous woofer made before we arrived.

I'm kind of sick of people giving me a hard time for being a vegetarian. They are not outwardly hostile and do generally provide good food. Several of our hosts have tried being vegetarian in the past. But I get the feeling they (the men in particular) just don't get it. Food is not well labelled in the supermarkets. Cheese generally has rennet in it and I found some margarine with gelatine in. It seems a big deal for people, and they need to try and understand why I don't eat meat. And yet it's not a big deal for me. I just like animals and don't feel the need to eat them, or have them suffer. I don't have to justify myself. It's not like in trying to convert them. Maybe I make them uncomfortable.

Lots of people here have ties back to England. Some people have relatives they still visit, others had relations who've long since died. They like to talk about their connections. Also certain areas here attracted the British in the past. On Denman island there are links back to the Orkneys as the islanders took their sheep to Denman in the past and settled to farm and fish. Around Nanaimo and Courtenay are mines, and English miners came here to work those mines long ago. Canadians are also enamoured with English history, as Canadian history, by comparison, does not go back that far. The Canadians like to ask questions about England (to which they typically get a botched, unsure answer - what is the population of Sunderland?) and they like to talk about where they've been. Most people visit London and the South, some go to Scotland, and our 'neighbour' here, visited Durham which he thought to be a very nice place!

The lady here eats no gluten, no rice, no potatoes, no sugar, no soy and no mushrooms.She also feeds her cats the vibrational energy of plants, (its a medicine that comes in little bottles you can buy online) and she's adamant that aids doesn't really exist. Today she said "so what are you going to do when Kipper (one of the cats) bites you". Seriously. What are you supposed to say to that?

There's lots of books here, on a wide range of topics, but lots in particular about health. A few I've read or seen before, but not many.The problem is I don't know where to start or what to believe. Organic food is supposed to be better for us, but one book claims there's little difference, and that with meat and dairy the animals are not much better treated.Another book tells you to eat for your blood type. A third that you shouldn't drink water from the tap as it has added minerals, including fluoride, which are bad for us. I find the amount of information, and especially its contradictory nature, infuriating. How are you supposed to know what to comsume?