Final day off...

Friday, as my usual day off, was the last time I'd have a day off before leaving Sunshine for good. And what a day off it was! I took to the slopes at about 9:30, when the sun was just cancelling out the icy surface of the nighttime, and at the top of Standish I met Jeremy, who was also riding on his own. We toured Standish and Wawa, and even found a mini slalom course on Wawa Bowl which was a lot of fun (though not exactly challenging). By this time Lookout Mountain was starting to defrost, so Jeremy left for the terrain park as I did laps of Divide.

Steve got off work at 12:00, so I'd arranged to meet him back home at 12:30 so we could go for a ski. After a lunch of soup and toast and curiously misplaced camera, we went out to do laps of the Terrain Park. Steve had been perfecting this 'grab', so I offered to take photos of him in the air so he could see how it was looking. About 6 laps later, we finally got the picture we wanted (and a few other good ones on the way), although the snow was becoming rediculously slushy and slow at this point.

On getting back to Sunburst, I changed into shorts for the first time in a VERY long time, and went onto the balcony to read some more of the thrilling novel I was fairly engrossed in... And by the time I'd finished it I was hungry again. Cookies lasted me until 5:30, at which time (being a Friday), Strawberry and Divide opened up for one final round of evening skiing!

This time there was a park competition and BBQ in the park, but unfortunately by the time Steve and I had made our way up Standish, up Divide and back to the park, it was already 6:00, and despite the very appealing smells of the BBQ we had promised Danny and Sam that we'd come with them into town (again), this time for Korean food.

Interestingly, after showering in preparation for out evening out, I noticed something unusual and amusing- I had not quite spread my sunblock all over my forehead, more specifically into the corners of my 'receedo', which had been exposed to the sun when I skied any my hair slicked back, leaving me with large crescents of sunburn in both the top corners of my forehead! Apparently, Steve had noticed this a number of times during the day, but failed to tell me because 'it was too hilarious'...

Ouch...

Anyway, we soon found ourselves in Banff, however Danny and Sam then let on that the Korean was to take place at 8:00 (in 50 minutes at the time), since that's when we were meeting Sam's sister and there was other business to attend to beforehand, including getting Sam some cake etc, because it was her birthday on Saturday and I'd forgotten about that too!

On our way to Safeway, we noticed a number of children dotted around the town, in unusual uniforms and with collection boxes and stickers. Steve told me they were with the Air Cadets, so of course after getting a loaf of bread for Jeremy I went to investigate further. The first girl I spoke to told me they are the Banff and Canmore squadron and they do gliding up towards Red Deer- but she couldn't tell me what glider they flew. Armed with my 'I support Air Cadets sticker' that cost me an anonymous donation, I went in search of the answer...

As I ventured further down the street, it seems the air cadets were getting more and more senion, and were able to give me a little more information about what they do, but still couldn't find out what glider they flew! I was eventually directed to where their leaders were based, in the basement of the Legion building (where I played Bingo more than 7 months before), so I wandered down there and quizzed the staff. They STILL didn't know what glider it was, but one of them phoned up their gliding friend and found out for me. SGS 2-33, a well known wooden glider which featured on the stickers they were giving out. Interestingly, their collection tins featured a different glider- the very model I have a half share in...

I stayed and chatted a little longer, finding more about the Air Cadet movement in Canada, before realising I was now pretty late for the Korean so I went straight there. Steve was just leaving to come look for me, so he took me back up to the restaurant where I met Jake, Sam's sister. They had already ordered, so the food came quickly.

Every table has it's own skillet, so the waiter brought plates of raw marinated meat to be cooked in front of us. We had a plate of beef, of chicken and of pork, and about 5 minutes later the waiter came back to flip the meat then tell us it was ready to eat. Apparently, this particular meal is eaten, with rice and crushed soy beans, in a large leaf of lettuce. It's definately very messy (especially since the chopsticks were very slender and made of slippery metal) and I had 3 before giving up and simply eating the meat with the rice. There was also a variety of sauces and vegetables (including shredded radish, curried spinach and pureed chilli), which all had a kick and which I tried in moderation!

The meat was gone all too quickly, so we ordered another serving of chicken and beef, which I ate less traditionally than before. It was definately an interesting experience, and the company was great- but the flavours were just too weird for me and I don't think it will become a regular meal for me.

We caught the last gondola up at 10:20, and it really wasn't long before I was in bed, fast asleep...