Prairie Wind
Ok you smart-arses, now no Brokeback Mountain jokes ok? I'm straight as an apache's arrow!
Yep, I'm in Calgary, Alberta, the heart of cowboy country here in Western Canada. I've come up here to visit relatives before searching for work in Vancouer. My philosophy of 'tossing out the map' and just winging it where ever I land has worked well so far this trip. However, mistakenly hopping off the train in the middle of the crack-addicts' hangout the other day was a bit dicey and the walk to the hostel quite the obstacle course.
I may stay here longer than I'd anticipated. I've arrived just before the massive Calgary Stampede rodeo show and I've got a job working at Stampede Park. The Calgary Stampede is apparantly the biggest outdoors event in the world so this place is going to be jumping very soon.
The romance of discomfort is still well alive for me so I've accepted a labouring job helping to set up 'Nashville North', which for a couple of weeks will become the largest bar in North America. I'm running around, lifting and moving heavy stuff. Working outside is fantastic. My colleagues are a friendly bunch and I guess I'm doing ok. Every work team needs a skinny, left-handed, logisically-challenged, over-educated Aussie! Once the Stampede starts I'll be flat out helping to keep the bar fully stocked. It's going to be quite a sight seeing this place full of drunken cowboys n cowgirls. I should be meeting lots of interesting people the next few weeks. Photos to come...
Summer has just begun and the weather is glorious. I was last here in the dead of winter and I swear it was actually -30 celcius! At the 'hottest' part of the day I could feel my toes going numb after 10 minutes outside and it felt like acid was stripping the skin off my uncoverd face. Calgary's actually quite nice underneath all that snow. It's a very pragmatic workers kinda city so it's got a very different vibe to uber-trendy Vancouver - lots of massive big cars and 4WDs everywhere. Like all of Canada though it's quite multicultural.
I tell you why I may stay for awhile after the Stampede- the energy industry-fueled economy is absoutlely outacontrol!! The best in 50 years apparantly. There is a massive worker shortage to the exent that many small businesses have been forced to close because they can't find staff. Workers just keeping leaving their bosses to move to higher paid jobs, even if it's only 25c more per hour. I'll have no problems getting work at all. There effectively isn't even a minimum wage anymore in this city. The big problem is housing. Workers are pouring in from all over the country and overseas and there's not enough accomodation. There are well-paid workers sleeping in tents! I'm ok for a couple of weeks staying with relatives but after that dunno what i'll do. I could got north and work in the oil fields. People say I could even get paid well and learn a qualified trade - starting as an apprentice basically. Somehow I don't think that's for me though.
That's aboot all for now eh?
MG
Yep, I'm in Calgary, Alberta, the heart of cowboy country here in Western Canada. I've come up here to visit relatives before searching for work in Vancouer. My philosophy of 'tossing out the map' and just winging it where ever I land has worked well so far this trip. However, mistakenly hopping off the train in the middle of the crack-addicts' hangout the other day was a bit dicey and the walk to the hostel quite the obstacle course.
I may stay here longer than I'd anticipated. I've arrived just before the massive Calgary Stampede rodeo show and I've got a job working at Stampede Park. The Calgary Stampede is apparantly the biggest outdoors event in the world so this place is going to be jumping very soon.
The romance of discomfort is still well alive for me so I've accepted a labouring job helping to set up 'Nashville North', which for a couple of weeks will become the largest bar in North America. I'm running around, lifting and moving heavy stuff. Working outside is fantastic. My colleagues are a friendly bunch and I guess I'm doing ok. Every work team needs a skinny, left-handed, logisically-challenged, over-educated Aussie! Once the Stampede starts I'll be flat out helping to keep the bar fully stocked. It's going to be quite a sight seeing this place full of drunken cowboys n cowgirls. I should be meeting lots of interesting people the next few weeks. Photos to come...
Summer has just begun and the weather is glorious. I was last here in the dead of winter and I swear it was actually -30 celcius! At the 'hottest' part of the day I could feel my toes going numb after 10 minutes outside and it felt like acid was stripping the skin off my uncoverd face. Calgary's actually quite nice underneath all that snow. It's a very pragmatic workers kinda city so it's got a very different vibe to uber-trendy Vancouver - lots of massive big cars and 4WDs everywhere. Like all of Canada though it's quite multicultural.
I tell you why I may stay for awhile after the Stampede- the energy industry-fueled economy is absoutlely outacontrol!! The best in 50 years apparantly. There is a massive worker shortage to the exent that many small businesses have been forced to close because they can't find staff. Workers just keeping leaving their bosses to move to higher paid jobs, even if it's only 25c more per hour. I'll have no problems getting work at all. There effectively isn't even a minimum wage anymore in this city. The big problem is housing. Workers are pouring in from all over the country and overseas and there's not enough accomodation. There are well-paid workers sleeping in tents! I'm ok for a couple of weeks staying with relatives but after that dunno what i'll do. I could got north and work in the oil fields. People say I could even get paid well and learn a qualified trade - starting as an apprentice basically. Somehow I don't think that's for me though.
That's aboot all for now eh?
MG
posted by Matt G at 1:35 PM
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