Today we were woke up early to banging and clattering outside, it was window cleaning day for the whole apartment block meaning we had to keep our windows closed from 9am -5pm. It wasn't exactly really what we wanted on a hot Vancouver Wednesday but we had been given advance notice so we couldn't complain. I got up, had some breakfast and then went to try the gym facilities on my own. Lou had a valid excuse to be fair - she hasn't got any trainers (sorry, sneakers!) yet and she was just getting up as I headed out the door. The gym is free to use for all residents but is only big enough for about 8 people or so at a time. When I went down there wasn't many people there so it was all good. Embarrassingly I had to ask one of the other people working out how to actually turn on the equipment after trying to suss it out, failing and looking stupid for 5 minutes. The lady explained in her broken english how it all worked and I was soon sweating away on the cross trainer. I did an hour work out and then headed back for a shower, I might get into the habit of this as Lou was all dressed and ready by the time I got back and I didn't have to wait around for her to get ready! On the way back I remembered to check out mail for the first time and we had a home welcoming card from Lou's mum (Thank you!) [Lou - "thanks Mum"]. It's mad how little things like this actually do make you feel more homely but it really does.
 
In the early afternoon we went and sorted out private medical insurance as our travel insurance cover had just ran out. There is a national medical insurance (which you still have to pay) called Medicare but it takes 3 months for the application to complete in BC so in the meantime we've had to take out something private just in case we end up needing it. We are covered up to $50,000 now, it sounds great but considering one night in hospital can be $1,500 it's not so brilliant! Our insurance cost us $336 and we may never need it but we didn't want to run the risk of not being covered if anything happened (touch wood it won't!).
 
I had read in one of the neighborhood papers that Collingwood Neighborhood House (sort of like a local community centre) offered drop-in soccer evenings twice a week so I went in and got further details. It is on Wednesday and Thursday nights so I made a note of the times informed them I'd be there later and then darted off to Safeway to buy the Canadian equivalent to 'Deep Heat' in advance! It feels wrong to be calling it soccer but it saves having to have those awkward conversations with people when they start talking to you about NFL or the CFL if you mention "football". At 7pm I made my way down there to play (in my Leicester shirt), not quite knowing what to expect. I offered Lou the chance to come and watch me make my Canadian debut but she opted to stay in and watch Dragons Den (Canadian version) instead! When I arrived down there I paid my subs, $4.25, and made my way into the indoor sports hall where other players where already warming up. I was walking in there with the 'typical new guy' feeling and nobody approached me to say anything so to avoid the awkwardness I just shook everyones hand and just introduced myself instead, remembering 2 of the 18 names people told me! It was a real mixture of people in there I noted Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Canadian, Russian, Fiji, and American players. The format was basically 6-a-side with no real rules except for no fouling and the format was basically 'winner stays on'. I got to play in 5 games in total, not scoring a single goal as they used hockey nets and they're tiny (I couldn't help but think "What the hell?"). The sports hall we played in was basically just big room with a wooden surfaced floor, with no fans or air con. I was absolutely soaking wet after one game alone, it was so hot it was unreal. I honestly felt short of breath because of the heat, but the 3 weeks of not playing and the junk food I've ate since I've been here no doubt played a significant part too! It was definitely a lot different to playing football, sorry soccer, in the UK. Even the style of play was different, players constantly linking up with short lay-offs and only shooting when about 2 yards from the goal, almost like ice hockey players do (maybe they play that also?). I did enjoy it though and will be going again to keep fit more than anything.