DeCISIOns

how can i know what choice is the right choice?

Opera said, "follow your own heart". but this wisdom words are so vague to me.

what is wrong decision?

what is right decision?

or is there any gray one?

I just dont get it!

12th DaY iN caNADA

it was a very tense and hard day.

in my travelling plan, i would get up a little bit earlier and leave my hotel at Banff heading to Calgary. i had to return my rental car before noon and take aeroplane at 17:15 to Vancouver. i know i would feel stressed because of the timeline, but i'd thought that thing would go fine as as my previous experience. the truth is -- no, not smoothly at all!

the frist thing was filling up petrol. there seemed some problem at the counter so that everyone was queued for quite a long time. and then, when i was trying to set the destination on my GPS navigation, the big problem appeared -- it asked for PIN code! i didnt know any pin code at all. i'd got the gps workable without asked for input any pin code since i rented it. i tried several default pin code like 0000 or 1234, it's just not working! i started to worry that i was running out of my time and still didnt know how to go to Calgary. I recalled that there was a Avis store in Banff's downtown, not far away from me, so i drove there and thought i could ask then about the pin code. what?! it had opened yet? oh my god! its almost 9:30 am. ok, another way i could try was calling directly to Avis in calgary! yeah, as every drama's plot could have happened, no one answered my phone call. i gave up! i started to read the maps and taught my mom, who doesnt really understand english and maps, to become my assistant pilot.

eveything looked ok when i was driving along the highway. Calgary was 158km away from banff.   but not entering the calgary city centre was a mess! really dont know how to describe the situation i encountered when i had to driving in high speed (because i hadnt got off the highway i think. the exit sign wasnt really clear to me) and deciding which way i should follow (there were so many direction signs appeared which were not shown on my map of course!). Plus, my panic mom. we were lucky enough that every turn we made was correct! soon or late we drove in the right way that was shown clearly enough on our map. and another lucky thing was a petrol station showed up! (Because i had just missed some when i was still in a mess.) hu~what a big relief was! i was really not sure if i could drive in the correct ways again.

However, i hadn't known i would face to a big problem. i'd been informed that the original store where i picked up the car would have been moving to a new place. the new place actually is a landmark of Calgary, the calgary tower, so i thought it would be fine to return my car. but i just couldnt figure out which parkade was the right one. there are so many parkades around Calgary tower and the traffic was not good enough to let me hanging around. i was forced by the urgent situation, it was already around 11:30 am, to park shortly in 30-min parking zone and ran into the office for help! gosh! what a long line to the frontdesk. i couldnt wait for long so i cut in for quick enquiry. i paid the parking fee at the machine (again, this was my first time to use it! i was in such a hurry...~"~) and soon tried to follow the staff's "unclear" help to find the parkade. as everyone could imagine, i failed again. so i just did what i'd done once again -- temporarily stopped, asked for clearer instruction, and drove away. this time i'd got no time to hesitate and drove directly to a parkade which was no sign of Avis and was not like a parkade for rental car at all, i even i had to take a parking ticket at the entrance! Fortunately again, i was right and the staff was right. anyway, i made it and brought our 2 big suitcases with my mom to the office. ya i felt so relieved after returned the car, even i was queued in line for 20 minutes at the frontdesk. What a tense and hard time is.

i didnt feel hungry totally due to this journey. my mom and i grabbed some food and took the bus to airport. everything had become better. we arrived at airport smoothly and got good latte. my plane took us to Vancouver and a cab took us to the hotel. therefore, i am happy to stay in this nice hotel!

englIsh oF MenU

notes todays vocabulary of menu. (To be continued...)

vocabulary:

• entreé
• grill / roast 
• sirloin
• fillet
• basted
• caesar / wedge
• Teriyaki
• rib
• scallop
• marinated
• striploin
• accompaniment
• battered
• asparagus

Descriptive:

• flavourful
• ultimate
• mignon

4th daY in CAnADa

ok. it's the day 3!

i didnt think about logging my trip to Canada. Thank to Enid to remind me this, although its my third day(or fourth?) in Canada.

i woke up early as previous day, around 5:00 am. I think thats all because i went to bed really early almost every day during my trip. but i think my mom hasnt had a good sleep, so that i waited for her every morning. 

today after we finished the poor breakfast (?), one cup of hot tea made in the lobby and an apple fritter bought from starbucks yesterday, we had started studying what journey we would have today. we were planning to go to the Lake Minnewanka, two Jack Lake and Hoodoos, even if we couldnt find the search result on the GPS!!!! We followed the map and, very luckily, arrived every spots! However, there were too many travellers in the Lake Minnewanka that we hardly found a parking space. We kept driving and stop at a small lookout to see the beauty of Lake Minnewanka. 

And then, we headed to Two Jack Lake and parked there without any difficulty. less travellers were there and its beauty didnt let people down. 

after Two Jake Lake, we had decided to go to another lake which is close too, Johnson Lake. We followed the sign on the road and found the nice place soon. lots of people had snacks, picnics, and BBQ there. some people even brought their dogs! since we still had time, we walked the trails beside. at the beginning, we a little bit worried about what if we met a bear. It is obvious that we thought too much. some people also hiked along the same trail and even brought their own chairs and sat beside the lake to enjoy the quietness and freshness. we took loads of pictures. i thought my mom was really happy to use her new camera and take pictures of these amazing natural scenery.

it was already 15:00 when we got back to our accommodation in Banff. we took a rest and suddenly heard of loud live music. it sounded like a match on the street! ya! it was. we took out camera and rushed out to the avenue and found crowds along the road. today is Canada day. there are various teams in the parade. (my poor english now is helpless to describe the details.) anyway, its quite fun! the atmosphere is totally different to that in Taiwan. 

there was one nervous moment in the moring which is i had to fill up petrol for my car but i had no idea about what kind of gas i should fill up and how to fill up by myself. actually its not my first time to fill up petrol by myself. i did that in my New Zealand trip, but i couldnt remember too many details. And forgetting to ask the type of petrol for my rental car was the most worrying thing to me! luckily, i got the answer from the staff and the people queuing in petrol station were quite patient. (that is one of amazing things i found here. )

another funny thing was the driving speed. they drove so slow! i think its probably because most cars on the roads were travellers as me and the sign of maximum speed. thats it! the most puzzling thing is the maximum speed is really low. thats totally opposite to the impression in the new zealand! i went new zealand last year and got amazed that the speed limitation was quite high, even in the mountain curving roads. despite the speed, their driving convention confused me. i really dont want others put fingers to me (i saw one did that to a driver!!!), so my rule on the road in Canada is stopping at every crossroad first!!!!!