Last post from the 'Gina!

The day has come... Time to bid farewell to the city that has been our home away from home for the past 3 months and the reason behind this blog. It's been an interesting journey!

We are now sitting in the Regina airport, waiting to board the plane back to the land of poutine. As we were going through security, K was randomly selected to be felt up by a female security guard. Good times.

While we wait, here are some final thoughts on Regina/highlights of our experience here:

1. The bus drivers are super nice here! They smile and talk pleasantly to you, and don't mind answering questions about their routes/stops! This was quite the shock, having grown accustomed to the STM!

2. People in general are very friendly here!

3. Our favorite outing was probably the Buddy Holly show - it was awesome!

4. Saturday afternoon iced tea - a tradition we hope to continue!

5. The 5% tax is amaaaazing!!!

Okay, it looks like they're starting to board the plane.... Au revoir, Regina! Take good care and maybe we'll see you again some day!

The last few weeks!!!

Time for our usual excuses: we've been soooooo busy lately! Between the two of us we've probably written 137176384829374 reports in the past week. Fun times. But....

THE INTERNSHIP IS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, here's an update on what's been going on in the 'Gina lately:

The Saturday after Canada day, we made our usual trip to the mall for our David's Tea date....

Side note - some iced teas we recommend include: Forever Nuts (S's fave), Perfect Pear, and Tropicalia (if you're lucky enough to be able to find it - they ran out of it after the first time we tried it)!

After the tea, S really wanted to go see UFC. So, we ventured out to find a sports bar that had been recommended to us, called the Press Box. According to google maps, this bar was located about a 10 minute walk away from the mall... As it turns out, it was more like half an hour, and it was essentially located in the infamous North Central. You know K really loves S when she's willing to walk through North Central on a Saturday evening with him, just so that he can watch grown men beat each other up on TV! Once we actually made it to the bar (and K stopped having a heart attack every time she heard a loud noise), we were lucky enough to get a seat... at the pool table cause it was so packed! We ordered supper, which understandably took a while to be brought out to us, and as it turns out it was actually pretty tasty! S had a club sandwich (that had whole chicken breast on it) and K had a Cajun chicken burger. Yummy! S enjoyed the UFC and we both enjoyed watching a silly bachelorette party going around to various tables to get men to drink shots out of their cleavage. We made it back to the mansion safely afterward, in a cab.

On Sunday, we went to one of the last shows of the Regina Fringe Festival. It was called "Joe's Cafe" and it was really great! It was basically a bunch of true stories put to song, including one about George Carlin (which was tres funny)! Both of the performers were very talented!

Since then, we haven't done very many exciting things. Unless you count writing reports on the weekend. We did however manage to watch the first disc of the first season of "How I Met Your Mother" which we borrowed from the Regina public library (gonna miss that place)... Looking forward to watching more of it, once we can find disc 2 somewhere!

We also went to see "The Amazing Spiderman" on cheap movie Tuesday. Review: K liked Andrew Garfield's skinny little spiderman arse, and S thought he was a better spiderman than Tobey Mcguire. The rest of the movie was "meh". Also, we think Emma Stone has voice problems (or will soon if she keeps using that low, raspy voice).

Finally, the 2 most exciting pieces of news since we last wrote:
1. We both got jobs!! (in Alberta, so expect a new blog entitled SKAB... Thanks again JM for the clever acronym)
2. We booked a Caribbean cruise! Yay! After the cruise we'll be going to Disney or Universal Studios or both for a couple days..... But we still haven't decided yet because we're the two most indecisive people in the world!

Alright, that's it for now! Time to get packin'!!! Stay tuned for live blogging from the airports tomorrow!

S&K

Happy Canada Day Weekend!!!

It's the celebration of the birth of Canada this weekend.... but more importantly, we now have THREE WEEKS LEFT! Yes, being finished the internship is in fact that important.

Here's a run-down of recent happenings in the 'Gina:

• THERE ARE TORNADOES HERE! Did you guys know that TORNADOES are real things? They actually exist! They really do! And not just in the movies, like The Wizard of Oz! Earlier this week, there was a "severe weather warning" that included TORNADOES, hail, and deadly lightning, among other things. There were print-outs all over the mansion, warning us of these TORNADOES! In the end, aside from some torrential downpours and lots of wind and ominous clouds that made the sky turn pitch-black at 8pm, all was ok. We survived our first TORNADO warning. (A few TORNADOES did in fact touch down around Moose Jaw, which is about half an hour away.)

• The other big highlight this week was Canada Day. S was very excited, because people actually celebrate Canada Day here... which apparently includes things such as: strongman competitions, plywood-building competitions, superdogs, and a petting zoo. Not to mention free shortbread cookies from a real estate company. All of this stuff is set up by the Wascana lake... which, incidentally, is in our backyard! We landed up finding some shade (it was SO sunny and hot!) and sitting down to eat a picnic lunch and watch the dog competitions. They ran through courses, raced some little kids, and jumped in the air and caught frisbees. Pretty entertaining. During our travels, we saw some poor chap trying to lift a limo (for the strongman competition) in the sweltering heat. He was unsuccessful. Overall, if was a pretty fun time. We also stopped at a big fountain on the way home and cooled off by sticking our feet in the water. It was quite scenic - right next to the legislature building. 

• On Sunday night, to continue celebrating the long weekend (and the fact that we didn't have to get up early on Monday morning), we went back to our favourite trivia spot (O'Hanlon's). It was Canada-themed trivia this time, and the hosts weren't as entertaining as last time, but we still had lots of fun. We were not nearly as successful with the trivia this time as we were last time, finishing second-to-last (clearly we don't know enough about Canada)... but our sucking paid off! Apparently in the 'Gina, they reward mediocrity with a GIANT PLATE OF FREE NACHOS!!!!  

 Hope you're all enjoying your day off! :)

4 weeks left!!!

So, we are down to 4 weeks left here in the 'Gina. Or, in terms of our blog, hopefully at least 4 more posts till the end of this particular S&K adventure! Were is the time going?!

Just a few things to talk about today...

First of all, we thought we'd provide you with some more "Giners say the darndest things" quotes (we kinda fell down on the job with this segment till now):

•  "couldn't you just get a job at a restaurant or something?" - advice from a little old lady with regards to our job search
• "it's so amazing when you get your first paycheck and you can finally afford the Activia yogurt!!" - discussing our job search with a coworker... K could totally relate; it's hard only being able to buy yogurt when it's on sale!! :p
• "my kid is such a turd" - overheard a mom referring to her child  

Yesterday evening it was beautiful and sunny out, and since it was the end of a long week we decided to go out for supper. We desperately wanted a place with a patio so that we could stay outside and enjoy the nice weather... there aren't many of these to choose from near the mansion, so we ended up at "Original Joe's." It's apparently some sort of chain where the waitresses are super classy and all wear identical black MINIskirts and shitloads of makeup. We were able to get a table on the patio pretty quickly, and in all fairness, our waitress was good so no real complaints. Bonus points for no smoking allowed on the patio! K had some sort of salmon and avocado sandwich thing with sweet potato fries and a salad; S had a blackened chicken and cheddar sandwich (with K's bacon) with regular fries and a caesar salad. We were both pretty happy with our meals, even though when S tried to put mustard on his sandwich it squirted halfway to Saskatoon! 4 SKs out of 5 (including the bonus for the smoke-free patio). The best part of our Friday night was going to sleep at 10pm (yes, we are in fact ballers) and not waking up until 9am!!!!

So far today (Saturday), it's another lovely day out in the 'Gina. We started off with our now Saturday morning tradition of PANCAKE breakfast!! Yum! Then we headed out for some great weather and our other Saturday ritual of iced tea from David's Tea. (By the way, you know an establishment is trying to be hipster when all of its employees have to wear cardigans!) We may eventually do a tea review blog post. K also got to wear her new ($15) sundress for the first time! Yay summer!

Now we're back at the mansion having a little rest... soon we'll be heading back outside to soak up some sun and start reading a new book together (tune in next time to find out what we're reading)!

Happy weekend, everyone! :)

We are back! Please forgive us!

Hello everyone... we hope that at least some of you are still with us!

We apologize for our month-long hiatus. The internship has gotten quite busy, and we've also been doing tons of job searching (to no avail, yet). Plus, we both had colds (K's lasted for over 2 weeks), and S had a bout of some sort of stomach bug. Excuses, excuses - we know. Anyway, here's a little re-cap of what's been happening in our spare time since last we wrote:

• On the Sunday of that long weekend, we went to trivia night at O'Hanlon's pub. It was awesome! We participated in both rounds, had a good laugh (the hosts were quite entertaining), and we CAME SECOND in the late round (a pretty cool feat, considering it was just the 2 of us on the team, and all of the other teams were a lot bigger)!! Yay us!! Our prize: free beer. K doesn't drink beer (it has bubbles!), and S had already drank 2 beers but he forced down our prize anyway. All in all, a great night. And we plan on going back for more trivia asap.

•  On the Monday of the long weekend (day off! woo!), we finally went to see the Hunger Games movie! Our quick review: it was a bit too long, and there was too much camera shaking (in the style of the Bourne movies), but overall we enjoyed it! It didn't stray TOO much from the book either. Curious to see what the next 2 movies will be like. After the movie we took a million years to decide where to go for supper... we finally decided on Pasta Prima, a fresh pasta place. There were tons of old people there - S felt right at home! The food was yummy and not expensive. 4 SKs out of 5! 

• Our next big outing was the following Saturday, to the Cathedral Arts Festival. It's basically a big street sale, with different local artists and lots of food. There was even some live music. S got really excited when he saw that there was a "jazz" band playing... turns out it was a weird duo of flute and guitar, which was fine and dandy till they started to sing. At least we got a place to sit down and eat our big juicy wieners. We also ate some delicious (and overpriced) cheesecake fudge, and a "tornado potato" on a stick (photos to come). And we ran into every single person that we know in Regina (i.e. our coworkers). That evening, we went to a restaurant called Viet Thai for supper that had been recommended to us. (Guess what kind of food they serve!) It was a yummy meal, though one of the dishes had a strange odor. 3 SKs out of 5. We then ventured to a little shop called Dessart Sweet just down the road for, you guessed it, dessert! It's a cute little place with tons of candy and chocolate bars from different places, and they also serve lots of different ice creams. We both had a cone - delicious! We spent Saturday night at a B&B called the Dragon's Nest (as a belated anniversary celebration and getaway from the mansion). It was lovely! Gorgeous room... but our jacuzzi didn't work properly, so that was a bit of a disappointment. Breakfast the next morning was tasty: bacon (which K gave to S), crepes (Montreal is following us everywhere), and fruit salad with granola and yogurt. We left, after a nice peaceful night, to have to schlep back to the mansion in the POURING rain. Sigh.

• The next Friday, we were pretty tired, so we decided to have a low-key outing of dinner and a movie. We went to Montana's for big disgusting burgers (of which we have now had our fill and will not be returning to eat for a very long time) and then went to see Men in Black 3 (not in 3D). The movie had a few good laughs and allowed S to drool over his boyfriend Josh Brolin, but it probably wasn't worth the $9.50 admission charge.

• The next day (Saturday), we traveled around the world for the Mosaic festival. It's a supercool thing that they do here in Regina, where people from all of the different cultures have a pavilion to show off food, dances, etc., from their country. We bought our "passport" and traveled by shuttle to: Ukraine, Greece, Romania, Ethiopia, the Caribbean, the Francophone pavilion, and the First Nations pavilion. It was a lot of fun, and we ate TONS of delicious food (e.g. souvlaki pita, vine leaves, Greek donuts, mamaliga and cream chicken, apple strudel, mango loaf, and bannock... and we talked ourselves out of getting poooooteeen). Unfortunately, the food was not free. But it was worth it! Pictures will likely come soon.

• The following Saturday, we took in a matinee show at the legitimate theatre here in Regina. We saw "Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story" at the Globe Theatre. It was FANTASTIC! The music was great, the actors were super, and we really enjoyed ourselves! Really glad we got the cheap tickets though, since the theatre is quite small and all the seats are essentially the same. We also got some free treats afterward (cookies, etc.)!

• On Sunday, we had a HAIR CUT DATE! We are so cool. We were both in desperate need of a trim, so we headed to Chatters Salon at the Cornwall Centre. We managed to get the place to ourselves, which was nice and relaxing. And now we are super beautiful with our new 'dos!  :p

• This past weekend, we mostly just took it easy. We went to the Regina Jazz Festival for a bit of free live music... we ended up seeing our good friends from the Cathedral Arts Festival (i.e. the weird flute/guitar duo) again! We also went to a few travel agencies to try our luck - we're hoping to go on some sort of relaxing getaway vacation once this internship is all over! (Any advice? Let us know!)

• Over the course of the past couple weeks we've also gone to the cheap movie theatre twice: once to see "American Reunion" and once to see "The Five Year Engagement." We enjoyed both (especially at $4.50 a ticket). 

Ok, so that's it for now! You're up-to-date! Thank you for sticking with us! Hopefully we'll be back very soon.  :)

Long weekend part deux!

Moving right along to Saturday:

We hopped on our chauffeur service to the downtown area, then walked a little bit to the "Italian Star Deli", which is the top-rated restaurant in the 'Gina according to TripAdvisor. It did not disappoint! For starters, we were served by an adorable, stereotypical little old Italian lady (note: this is in NO way meant to be offensive - she was actually awesome)! S ordered a Hungarian Salami and Prosciutto panini, and K ordered a Chicken panini (she originally asked for Turkey, but they didn't have any... the little old lady then informed her that turkey and chicken "belong to the same family" haha). You can get mild, medium or hot paninis - we both got medium, which means that it has banana peppers on it, along with grated feta cheese, pesto, and mustard. These sandwiches were so huge that we ended up eating only half of it for lunch, and then ate the second half for supper! Pretty great, especially considering that the paninis were relatively inexpensive. 5 SKs out of 5! We took our sandwiches over to the park between Scarth and Lorne (we know street names now! woo!), and ate on a park bench. It was lovely. Next time we go back to the Deli, K wants to get some cannolis!

S's panini! Sooo good!

Before running some quick errands at the mall, we ran in to the Globe theatre box office, to get tickets for "Buddy", the Buddy Holly show. We'll be seeing it on June 9th... very much looking forward to taking in some legitimate theatre in the prairies! Review to come!

Nothing too exciting happened at the mall... except some AMAZING iced tea from David's Tea!!! If you ever want to drink something delicious, go get a "Tropicalia" iced tea (sweetened with guava)... it takes like Pina Colada! SOOOO yummy!!

To show our ever-growing comfort level here in Regina, we decided to walk back towards our mansion (instead of bussing it). Along the way, we stopped at the Royal Saskatchewan Museum for a visit. It was pretty cool! We really liked their exhibits - they had one about dinosaurs, one about native history, one about animals & plants of Saskatchewan. K pretty impressed with the taxidermy: the wolves in particular seemed very lifelike!

The wolves!

K was afraid they were going to start moving and attack us!

A medical prescription written 2600 years ago - kinda cool!

As we continued home, we were able to explore the other side of the Wascana lake, which was absolutely beautiful on the sunny evening. Lots of geese, lovely-smelling trees, families out playing, and several wedding parties getting photos taken!

Lovely foliage!

View of the legislature building from across the lake.

The biggest hill we've encountered in Regina in 3 weeks.....

Side view of the legislature building

Pretty tree full of blossoms!

Long Weekend!!!

Happy Victoria Day! You kinda forget how amazing a long weekend is when you are in school (since you probably have work to do anyway). It's been such a grueling first few weeks, that having this long weekend is a godsend. And who benefits more than anybody from this weekend? You, our loyal followers!

The biggest news of Friday was that we FINALLY FINISHED THE HUNGER GAMES TRILOGY! We more or less read all three books since we landed here in the 'Gina. It's been hard to talk about the books without giving spoilers so our final thoughts we will be very general: K liked it but found the ending a bit rushed (S agrees with this last point). Overall, what she expected to happen happened (ditto for S). We've been commenting on S's angst expectations throughout our readings. In the end, he thought it could've been just a little more angsty but regardless, the male-on-male angst scene in book 3 took the cake (we both thought it was hilarious and perfect!). We are totally looking forward to taking in a matinee showing of the Hunger Games movie at the ghetto cinema this afternoon. Hopefully it stays pretty true to the first book. Review to come, duh!

Since we didn't want to waste time preparing supper since we had sooooo much reading to do, we decided to order in. It was our first time ordering in, which we were sort of worried about given the SaskTel debacle. Thankfully, the good folks at Houston Pizza are capable of seeing three feet in front of them and pressing glowing yellow buttons! Yah! Before we talk about the pizza, we just want to mention that apparently Regina is the capital of "Family restaurants". While looking for place to order from, we came across no less than 39809869 restaurants of different varieties claiming to be "family restaurants". We wonder if there is some kind of turf war going on here. Like the mob families but with "family restaurants". That would be amazing!

As for the pizza, we didn't have very high hopes (who in their right mind would think Pizza in the middle of the prairies would be good), but it was..... actually awesome! Like seriously, probably the best delivery pizza we've had (and even better than Delissio!). We had a cheese pizza with pineapple. When we first got it, K was worried because there were only a couple of pieces of pineapple on top and she was all like "WHERE'S THE PINEAPPLE?!?!". Luckily, it was all hidden under the glorious, delicious, gooey cheese! 4 and 1/2 SKs out of 5 SKs!

YUMM!

Apparently, it's a secret what time they close!

Speaking of "food", here's the poutine we mentioned in an earlier post... Enough said.

We will have another post shortly about Saturday and Sunday which involved more food, museums, outdoorsy stuff, trivia, etc.