Reunited with my Godfather in Calgary

5 DAYS IN CALGARY WITH MY GODFATHER

My new home!

After waiting for a delayed flight and carrying way too much stuff on me I finally arrived in Calgary to see my godfather who I haven't seen since I was 8 years old. I pretty much looked like a homeless person through the arrivals gate especially considering my godfather admitted to thinking I looked homeless and not recognising me. It was cool to see him again after 13 years of living in separate countries. Dad also was at the airport as he was in Calgary to see Barry his bestmate on the way through to Scotland for his boys golfing trip so that was cool too.

DAY 1 IN OKOTOKS
This morning I woke up and had the best sleep in of life! I did however feel a little disorientated as I woke up in a campervan (RV) on a random gravel road. Once I woke up I saw my godfathers house and land in daylight which was awesome. I met his wife Nives and their 3 dogs, Cisco the husky, Drew a Lab and Cobber. I had my first proper meal in weeks a fruit salad with GF cereal and yogurt! Nives had put a picnic basket filled of gluten free goodies in the pantry for me with my name on it so I felt like it was home instantly! After breakfast Barry my godfather had made a schedule of activities for me to do for the day which was unexpected but cool. Jeff his 18 year old son picked me up to go play some Ice Hockey with him and 2 of his irish family friends who had never skated before too. On the way to the Ice Hockey arena I couldn't see much out of the windscreen cause of how cracked it was. It's legal to drive over here with a completely cracked windscreen from the cold winters. I had never seen anything quite like it. At the Ice Rink I met the 2 irish guys who I could barely understand but they seemed pretty funny. Jeff got me geared up for the ice and I hit the ice to begin skating. It was an open slot time so everybody and anybody was on the ice, it wasn't the most ideal situation for me to be in since I had never skated but YOLO.

The  ice hockey gear!

Me on the ice!

Cobber 

It turned out I wasn't too bad except stopping like the professionals do wasn't going to happen today. I had a new stopping technique which was spin on the spot in a circle twice and that seemed to do the trick. I didn't have a fall either but the irish guys were falling left right and center and one came off with a pretty sore back from a head on collision with an 8 year old haha. After ice hockey I chilled out for a bit and organised my suitcase and got some much needed washing done. For dinner Laura (20), Rob (30), Matt (24) and Jeff (18) all came for dinner which was pretty special as I haven't seen them or really met them properly for years. It also was good that MATT WAS SUPER SUPER HOT & PLAYS PROFESSIONAL ICE HOCKEY! Rob who hunts on a regular basis bought over some fresh Alk and Deer meat for Dad and I to try. The Deer sausages were AMAZING!!! We cooked them inside the shed as it was raining on a big grill as if we were camping. I got to collect the firewood with Barry and drive the tractor which was loads of fun.
It was a cool night with lots of laughs and memories from back in the day when we all were in NZ together. Since Dad was heading to Scotland for a month of golf he needed some practice so I Jeff, Matt and I all said we would play tomorrow morning. With me having not played since 7th form and that was barely playing I thought it would be funny if I talked myself up and said I was really really good in the hope that I would be able to back it up. So I went to the RV that night a little bit worried of how I would go tomorrow.

Coolest Godfather ever!

Rob Cooking Deer & Alk for dinner

Barry & I on the tractor

 DAY 2 IN OKOTOKS
It was an early start this morning with teeing off at 7.30am and I was still pretty tired from my Trek America Tour. We headed to the golf course and decided to get golf carts to make it more fun. Dad & I shared one and so did Matt & Jeff. My first drive was sooooo awesome, it was straight down the middle of playing field and had good distance too. The boys were shocked that I could even hit it and thought they were going to get beaten by a girl but my game deteriorated after that and it clearly showed I hadn't played in years. I had one par though and finished off the 9 holes with a good long putt. Judy (The boys mum and my godfathers ex wife) came to pick us up and shouted us all breakfast at the golf course cafe. It was cool seeing her again and catching up with what she had been up to. For the rest of the day I helped Barry run some errands and went to the dump. I saw a house being lifted off a truck and unloaded at the dump which was pretty exciting. Later on this evening Barry took Dad to his close friends stag party whilst Nives took me out for a girls night to the Okotoks Cinema to watch Bourne Legacy. The town of Okotoks seemed so old fashioned and cute with little cottages as shops. I missed spotting the cinemas cause they were so small! It was a very basic cinema with plastic seats that weren't super comfy and the cinema was a square slab of concrete with a projector screen. It was pretty funny to experience something different and when I told Nives about Sylvia Park and La Premiere she didn't believe me haha. Bourne Legacy was a really good movie and a must see one.

The boys & I.

Jeff, Matt & Dad picking the best line

Okotoks Cinema!

Once the movie has finished Nives and I went to pick up the boys from the stag party. I thought a stag party was the kind that involved everyone getting wasted and strippers present. They are not the same in Calgary that's for sure. It was a boys night drinking, playing their guitars and singing with Barry & Dad on the shakers hahaha. It was so old school and I thought they were dressed up for the occasion but it turns out that't what they normal wear. They were dressed as bikers with cowboy hats and leather jackets and they were really good at singing too.Once we finally dragged them to the car it was home time and another awesome day in Calgary.

DAY 3 IN OKOTOKS
Today was a pretty chilled day as Dad headed home in the afternoon and it was an hour drive into downtown Calgary to take him to the airport. We went in early and checked out some of the malls. Dad tried on some shirts and a really nice jacket for work, I looked at the price when I was taking it to his changing room and it was a $1000 jacket so we quickly left the shop and aimed for somewhere a bit cheaper. We went to the airport and after giving dad a quick tutorial on how to electronically checked in he threw his toys and wanted a actual airport employee to check him in but didn't realise that they only do electronic check in over here, so was fun for me to watch :) Once dad had checked in and we said our goodbyes I had a long drive back to Okotoks and went to bed early after quickly cramming in 5 episodes of home and away as was getting rather stressed that I would be missing too many episodes haha.

DAY 4 IN OKOTOKS
Today was a big day of laboring for my godfather and Kenny, his best friend who was getting married the next day. After I woke up barry, Nives and I headed over to help put up marquees, put a trampoline together, waterblast the drive and move shrub and dead trees 4 km away from the house which I didn't really think was for the wedding but more something Kenny has wanted to be done for ages haha. We spent majority of the day helping out until we all were dying for food and drinks. Barry and I went in town to get him some new jeans as he wore the ones for the wedding today and destroyed them. It was fun helping him pick jeans and watch him try on skinny leg jeans too. We had Edo, japanese food together in the mall and on the way home stopped at DQ. You can get mcflurries in a fizzy drink large mcdonalds cup over here and pick whatever you wanted mixed in it. The drive thru and speaker box server needs to find a new job and would not get kfc employee of the month if he was in Dunedin thats for sure :) On the way home driving Barry's car steering system locked up as we were turning a sharp bend to go on the motorway and the car turned off while driving at 90kmph it was insane!!!!I saw my life flash by for about 5 secs and then the car was fine. I said to my godfather the car needs to be serviced before driving me to Uni in Edmonton lol.
When we got back to the farm Barry decided to have a little play on the bobcat before lay down grass tomorrow. There were 2 levers with 10 different actions it moves in on each lever. I jumped up on his lap and had a go at steering, we couldn't stop laughing as one moment you are moving forward, then bunny hopping then lifting the loader up and go left and right at the same time it was almost enough to make you throw up but was enough to make me want one when I get back home to drive around town lol

The farm

Barry on the Bobcat with Rockies in backgroung at sunset 

Later on in the night at 10pm Matt and Jeff send me a text and came to pick me up to take me to the local pub. This was an experience, it was another tick off the bucket list but one I wasn't expecting. We walked into the bar and were joined by an obese hen's party. I almost lost the plot dancing next to them on the dance floor. I also had another tick off the bucket list by the boys thinking I needed to do catch up drinking so bought me a shot. I tossed it back like any other shot but once I swallowed it I ran straight over to the ice machine and poured half of the machine down the throat. What they had ordered me was a "prairie fire" which consists of Tequilla and Tabasco hot sauce!!It was disgusting and caused a hot eruption in my mouth for the next hour. I next experienced Jeff join in on the line dancing on the d floor which everyone once the song comes on goes into lines and covers the whole d floor doing it. It was crazy to watch. I then was Matt's wingman for the rest of the night while he tried to score, watch him dance after having knee surgery was pretty funny. At 2am Matt rang Barry to come pick us up and get us a feed at Macca's before heading home..it reminded me of the good old nights in Dunnos.

Deer I stalked to get a photo on the farm

Its Blizzard load up on Dairy for the day time :)

LAST DAY IN OKOTOKS

Today was my last day in Okotoks and what a way to wake up to some freshly made gluten free pancakes by Nives. I was unsure if they were excited to see me go or what the special breakfast was for but I found out later that I was laying out sow grass all around the house for the dogs with Barry and Jack. We only had 2 hours to do it aswell since I had to be packed and ready to depart for the airport in the city. Once I finished the lawn I cleaned up the Rv and tried to pack everything and get the zip done up...this was way harder than I expected. We hit the road for the airport and I said my goodbye to Barry and Nives and went through the tightest security check I have been through since being in Canada. You stand in a glass elevator like room with your hands above your head and then when you step out the computer shows red dots on your body showing you have something dodgy. Luckily I had no red dots and could go straight to the gate, where I found my plane to be delayed an hr!!! Yet again missing home and away stressed me out so I got 2hrs of free wireless where I got to watch more home and away episodes I had missed :) I can'tt wait to land in Vancouver and meet the people I was heading on my 11 day contiki around Canada with.