Plane Spotting at YYC

This weekend, I went out to my local airport, Calgary International Airport, to do some plane spotting. Our airport might not be the best for having many different types and airlines, but it is nevertheless very exciting to be around for takeoffs and landings! Hearing the engines spool up for takeoff is just unbeatable. The highlight is at the bottom: an RAF Airbus A330-200MRTT!

C-FYKR – Airbus A319 – Air Canada 136 to Toronto-Pearson (Jan 6, 2018)

C-GGNZ – Bombardier Q400 – Air Canada 8580 to Saskatoon (Jan 6, 2018)

C-FYRK taxiing towards 35R for take-off with C-FZUJ (Air Canada 584) to Newark beginning take-off roll

C-GKWA – Boeing 737-800 – WestJet 2378 to Huatulco, Mexico (Jan 6, 2018)

ZZ343 taxis to 35L

C-GEOU – Boeing 767-300 – Air Canada Rouge 1864 to Cancun, Mexico (Jan 6, 2018)

The sun is just rising at around 08:30 MST.

ZZ343 – Airbus A330-200MRTT – RAF flight back to Brize Norton (Jan 6, 2018)

ZZ343 passes the ATC

 

2017 in review

When you graduate from university, what is the mindset that you have transitioning to working as an employee? The best thing I could imagine was coming home from work and not having to think about work, or do any work once I came home. That is actually mostly true (at least for me)! Incredible. But wait, there’s more! You even get paid! Instead of paying tuition to attend university, you get paid to work. And working doesn’t necessarily mean that you aren’t learning. The best part of my new job is that I can still learn, and be paid to do it!

As a Technical Writer, my job requires an aptitude for learning. Any product that needs a manual, means that you have to first become familiar enough with the product to be able to explain how to use it. I see it as “playing,” which makes it sound fun, and makes people envious of my job (even though after explaining to them what I do, they think I’m a little odd). But I digress.

I’ve had a very good year. Top highlights in terms of progressing through life are:

1. I graduated from Leiden University with a Master of Arts in Linguistics.
2. I found a permanent full-time job (which is partially responsible for the sudden stop in posts on this site).

 

Looking forward to a wonderful 2018 (and hopefully a bit more activity on the blog)!

Legalising a Dutch diploma

So, I’ve officially graduated. Now I can write the glorious “MA” suffix after my name. I also have a full-time job! Actually, I’ve been working since the beginning of August, and that is part of my excuse for not having written anything in a while.

As part of repatriating my degree, I had to go through the process of legalising a document. There is a document called the “Apostille Treaty” that recognises courts from other countries, which would have made the process much simpler, but unfortunately, Canada is not a signatory. So my past week has been spent running around the Netherlands getting my documents stamped and signed…

The first stop was at the Ministry of Education in Groningen. This was actually the trickiest bit. Without the seal from this ministry, the rest of the stops are pointless. You can verify to see if the ministry has your information by checking online using your DigiD. But that only works if you still have an active Dutch telephone number (I haven’t had one for about nine months…). Fortunately, you can also e-mail a scan of your diploma to them so that they can figure out if they can legalise it for you. I wasn’t willing to make the trip without having this little confirmation. The office is located at Kempkensberg 12 and is open from 10:00 to 16:00 Monday through Friday. You have to ask at the reception desk for a ticket for legalisation. It took about 45 minutes for me to get the sticker applied. I arrived just after 10, but there were already a few people waiting ahead of me. So anticipate a little bit of time for this. The website is available here.

Once you pay the €6 fee, you can go off to the next stop, which if you are going to work in a country that is a signatory of the Apostille Treaty means visiting the district court at Guyoutplein 1. Otherwise, you have to hop on the train and head down to Den Haag to visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for their stamp (€10). The ministry’s office is adjacent to Den Haag Centraal at Bezuidenhoutseweg 67, open from 09:00 to 12:30 Monday through Friday. The desk for legalisation is located up a floor from the ground floor. I arrived there just after 09:00, and the sticker was applied within 20 minutes of my number being called to the desk. This was the quickest visit of the process. The website says that the average wait time is 1 hour, but it really depends on how busy they are. The website can be found here.

The final step is to visit the Canadian Embassy for their legalisation. This is the most time consuming (and expensive) part, as they say it may take 2-3 business days to process it (€35). So I dropped it off on Tuesday, and picked it up on Friday. The Canadian Embassy is located at Sophialaan 7, and you have to drop it off between 09:30 and 12:30 Monday through Friday. Pickup, however, goes until 17:00. You have to go through a security screening before you are allowed into the embassy, then you just have to wait until you are called. The woman who dealt with my diploma said it would be ready the following morning for pickup, so I suppose the times really depend on how busy they are. But had I known that it would have been ready the following morning, I could have shortened my trip by a few days!! The Canadian Embassy’s website is here.

But now, €51 euros later… I have a diploma with two stickers and a stamp stating that it is indeed a legitimate Master’s degree!! Hooray!

Duxford Flying Legends Air Show

After six days in Luxembourg, I flew to England to visit family and attend the Flying Legends Air Show at Duxford. The air show takes place at the Imperial War Museum in Duxford, which is fabulous because you can walk through the hangars and look at old airplanes until your heart is content, and then watch the display! Unfortunately, we couldn’t visit on Sunday so I didn’t see the Red Arrows display, but there were plenty of other amazing airplanes in the air. Imagine seeing nine Spitfires in the air at once, or a B-17 Flying Fortress, or the only airworthy Bristol Blenheim? Actually the Blenheim at IWM Duxford is a rebuilt Bolingbroke, the Canadian-built variant of the Blenheim. There was a formation of racing planes, including a de Havilland DH.88 Comet, and a replica Travel Air Mystery Ship. Anyway, I’ll just put up some photos to show you a selection of the legendary airplanes that were flying that day!

Formation of 9 Spitfires

Supermarine Spitfire Mark IX

North American P-51B Mustang

Goodyear Corsair

Grumman Bearcat & Hawker Sea Fury Mark II

Curtiss-Wright P.40C, Curtiss-Wright Warhawk P40F, Curtiss-Wright Hawk 75

North American P-51D Mustang & Boeing B-17G “Flying Fortress”

Boeing B-17G “Flying Fortress”

Douglas Dakota

Messerschmitt Bf109 (Buchon – Rolls-Royce Merlin engine)

Hawker Hurricane Mark I

Bristol Blenheim Mark I

de Havilland DH.88 Comet

Consolidated PBY Catalina

Vianden

La route préférée pour se rendre à Vianden est de prendre le train jusqu’à Ettelbruck, et ensuite l’autobus № 570. Avant de monter dans le train, il faut acheter un billet de €4 euros (billet longue durée). Ce billet est valable sur tout le réseau national pendant une journée entière! Si vous montez dans un train express, le voyage à Ettelbruck durera environ 30 minutes. Si vous montez dans un train régulier, le voyage durera environ une soixantaine de minutes. Je n’ai pas bien examiné l’écran dans la gare à Luxembourg, donc j’ai pris un train régulier… Le voyage lui-même est beau. Si tu t’asseois à côté d’une fenêtre, (selon moi) le voyage est beaucoup plus agréable.

Le village de Vianden n’est pas grand. Il y a une rivière, l’Our (qui se jette finalement dans la Sûre), qui traverse le village. Il y a un chemin le long de la rive qui permet de prendre des belles photos du château. Si vous vous promenez sur la rue de Sanitorium jusqu’au numéro 39, vous trouveriez un télésiège qui monte une colline voisine. Le télésiège grimpe lentement la colline, donc c’est aussi un chance pour prendre plus de photos du village et de la vallée. J’ai acheté un billet aller simple, parce qu’il y a un chemin qui descend jusqu’au château. Le Château de Vianden fut construit du 11e au 14e siècle. Au cours des années, le château était laissé à l’abandon jusqu’en 1977 où il devint propriété de l’État du Luxembourg. Il est maintenant restauré et considéré comme un monument célèbre du Luxembourg. Le prix d’entrée ne coût pas cher, il faut absolument découvrir l’histoire de ce château!

Echternach

Le village d’Echternach se trouve sur la frontière allemande. Le voyage de la ville de Luxembourg dure environ une heure en autobus (№110 ou 110) de la Gare Centrale. Le réseau national de Luxembourg est très utile, la fréquence des autobus est très élévée et le prix pour un billet est bas (€2 billet court durée, €4 billet longue durée). Les billets longue durée sont valable sur tout le réseau national pour une journée entière tandis que les billet court durée sont valable que sur les routes dans la ville de Luxembourg pendant deux heures.

Le paysage entre la ville de Luxembourg et Echternach est très beau, mais il faut s’asseoir dans la partie avant de l’autobus car ils roulent très vite et la route serpente dans une manière qui peut donner la nausée! La “gare” d’Echternach se trouve à côté de la rivière Sûre, qui signale la frontière. Ce village est aussi le point de départ de plusieurs randonnées dans la région “Petite Suisse Luxembourgeoise.” J’ai décidé d’abord de suivre un chemin vers Rosport, mais je me suis enfin rendu au village de Steinheim, et puis retourné à Echternach à pieds, un voyage d’environ dix kilomètres. Ce n’est pas facile de faire la randonnée quand on n’est pas habitué au nouveau fuseau horaire. Cependant, la randonnée était très belle. Il y avait beaucoup de formations rocheuses dans le forêt, et le chemin est signalé par plusieurs chevrons et lettres “M” stylisées (qui désigne la région Mullerthal?) peinturés sur le tronc des arbres, donc facile à suivre!

Luxembourg

Moien! C’est comment on dit “salut” ici en luxembourgeois (Lëtzebuergesch), une des trois langues officielles au Luxembourg (y compris le français et l’allemand), mais c’est la seule qui a le statut de langue nationale. En fait si tu souhaites devenir citoyen du Luxembourg, il faut au moins réussir un examen du niveau B2 en luxembourgeois. C’est une bonne façon de s’assurer la préservation de la langue!

J’étais dans ce pays pendant une semaine, mais les premiers jours étaient complètement annulés grâce à la fatigue due au décalage horaire. C’est un vol de 9h 20min de Calgary à Zürich et une autre heure (après l’escale) jusqu’à la ville de Luxembourg. Car le vol s’éloigne de l’équateur afin de réduire au maximum la durée du vol, c’était toujours de la lumière naturelle qui traversait les fenêtres. Elle nuit à la capacité de dormir…

J’ai fait une randonnée dans les bois le long de la Pétrusse, rivière et affluent de l’Alzette, jusqu’au quartier Grund, où elle rejoint cette dernière, avec l’abbaye de Neumünster. En marchant à côté de la rivière, j’ai passé au-dessous du Pont Adolphe, pont à voûtes d’une longueur de 153 mètres, actuellement un symbole important de la ville. Puis j’ai grimpé à la falaise jusqu’au centre-ville. La vue était superbe, il y avait même un viaduc qui traversait la vallée. Le centre-ville lui-même était aussi magnifique. Les vieux édifices parmi le palais, l’hôtel de ville se mélangeaient avec les nouveaux édifices. Le centre-ville piétonnier avait un air européen, rues pavées et rempli de boutiques de mode. Le soir, j’ai commandé des crêpes délectables dans un restaurant avec un auvent bleu.

Avant de terminer, je veux aussi dire que les autobus sont remarquables. Tous les autobus sont flexibles, c’est-à-dire articulé. La capacité écrit sur la vignette affichée dans ces autobus est plus de 100 passagers ou passagères… C’est époustouflant que les autobus d’une telle longueur peuvent rouler dans les routes étroites dans la ville, les chauffeurs sachent comment conduire!

Shanghai – Part 2

This post has photos from Century Park, Jiading and Shanghai Tower.

Century Park (世纪公园)

Century Park is in Pudong, between Century Park station (世纪公园) and Shanghai Science and Technology Museum station (上海科技馆) on Line 2. You have to pay ¥10 for a ticket to get in to the park, but that only works out to about CAD$2. The park is the largest in Shanghai, on 140 hectares of land. It was completed in 2000, and is located at the end of Century Avenue (世纪大道), which is where its name comes from.

There were also some interesting signs. The one above is interesting because I wasn’t quite sure what the difference between the two was. Now I know that 垂钓 means fishing with a rod and 捕捞 means fishing with a net. We don’t have that distinction, and would probably just write “No fishing” and assume that people would know that that includes nets as well as rods.

Jiading (嘉定镇)

Jiading is a little bit of a trip from well anywhere. But it is well worth it. From People’s Square Metro Station (人民广场地铁站), you go on Line 2 to Jiangsu Road Station (江苏路地铁站), and change to Line 11 and ride to Jiading North Station (嘉定北地铁站). You could probably walk from the metro station, or, alternatively, take the Jiading #1 Bus (嘉定1路) to the Jiading TCM Hospital (嘉定中医医院) and walk from there.

I visited the Bamboo Carving Museum (嘉定竹刻博物馆), which is really neat. I didn’t take any photos because it is a museum and lighting was poor. Bamboo carving is something that Jiading was famous for, all of the master carvers lived here and they made some really amazing things. You’ll have to visit!

My next stop was the Fahua Pagoda (法华塔). It really stands out from the rest of the buildings in the area. Nothing is quite as tall. I believe it stands about 41m tall. It was originally constructed in the Song dynasty (960-1279) and has been rebuilt across the ages. It is now a protected historical site. You can’t go up the tower, but you can go into the courtyard.

The Pan Jia Garden (潘家苑) is behind one of the fancy hotel complexes in Jiading. They have a villa in the middle of the complex, around which the garden is built.

The Confucian Temple (孔庙) and the Imperial Exam Museum (科举博物馆) are both located in the same location. Unfortunately, the museum doesn’t have many explanations in English, so unless you can read characters, you’ll just have to look at the paintings of various scholars (or skip this one entirely, but still go and visit the Confucian Temple part). On the path that leads to the temple, you can see the wall below with the lions perched on top of each picket. Each lion is supposed to represent one of Confucius’ disciples.

The last stop of the day was the Jiading Museum (嘉定博物馆). This museum talks about the history of Jiading and how it was important. All of the museums in Jiading are free to visit, so for a low budget trip, this would be an excellent choice for something off the beaten track in Shanghai.

Shanghai Tower (上海中心大厦)

The Shanghai Tower is the second tallest building in the world after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, standing at 632m tall. Difficult to miss in Lujiazui, it towers over the Jin Mao Tower (金茂大厦) and the Shanghai World Finance Centre (上海环球金融中心) (which I visited on a previous trip). The observation deck is on the 118th and 119th floor. There are still another nine floors above the observation deck!! Anyway, you get an excellent view of the city from the top. I visited in the evening to take in the lights, much like what I did before. I’m sure it looks fabulous in the daytime as well, so long as it is a clear day with little smog. 上海之巅旅程开始！

Shanghai – Part 1

吾本来想打字写此篇博客，but then I thought it would be easier to write in English… I have spent the past two weeks in the metropolis of Shanghai in China. I expect there will be several parts to these posts, so I have taken the liberty of calling this post part 1!

I left Canada on 6 June on an Air Canada flight from Vancouver. These flights are now operated using Boeing 787-9 equipment, and the plane I flew to Shanghai had only been introduced to the fleet in May of this year! It was even painted in Air Canada’s new black livery. I also got to see a Cathay Pacific A350 which departed shortly before my flight. I hope that one day I will be able to fly on an A350, and an A380… I’ve been on Boeing 737s, 747s, 767s, 777s and 787s, and Airbus A320s, A330s, and A340s (excluding other aircraft manufacturers), and that still leaves a fair few aircraft types that I have yet to fly on. But I digress… (this first one is flying over the Rockies from Calgary en route to Vancouver!)

It was fantastic to get back on the ground in China. This time around I stayed in a chain of hotels called Motel 168, at a location quite near Tangqiao metro station (塘桥地铁站) on line 4. It was very convenient to get from there to the core of Pudong (浦东新区), called Lujiazui (陆家嘴). It took me a few days to adjust to the new timezone, but here are some photos of the food and of Lujiazui! (The third photo is of duck tongue (鸭舌))

Shanghai is a large, sprawling city with a metropolitan population of some 34 million people. Just imagine that, the entire population of Canada in a single city. But the upside to that is that public transit is fantastic. There are currently 14 metro lines criss-crossing the city, that number will increase in the future as they are building even more lines! Buses also go everywhere, though I suppose it could be a little tricky reading the stops if you can’t read characters, but announcements on buses are made in Mandarin, Shanghainese and English, so it should be possible to get by without too much trouble.

On this trip, I was lucky enough to be invited along to a friend of a friend’s wedding! That meant heading out to Sheshan (佘山), a station that is fairly far away from central Shanghai. They had hired out a ‘villa’ (别墅) there which was very luxurious and spacious. I was in charge of tying ribbons to balloons and attaching little paper hearts to the end of the strings so they were reachable after they had been filled with helium. We went all the way out to Songjiang (松江区) for food that evening, mainly because there was more choice as to what to eat there than in Sheshan.

The following day, the actual wedding took place. That involved lots of interesting things that Western weddings just do not have. For example, when the groom’s party arrived, the bride’s party all made it difficult for them to get in by blocking the door and demanding little red envelopes filled with cash (红包). There were several of these “challenges” before the groom could see the bride. Then there was a tea giving ceremony where the groom gave the bride’s parents each a cup of tea. This was later repeated with the groom’s parents. In the afternoon, we went in a convoy on the road to the place where the ceremony and banquet was to take place, near Songyuan Road (宋园路地铁站). Unfortunately, as this is Shanghai, the roads were jam-packed with traffic (堵车) and so it took us almost 90 minutes to reach the venue. Once there, they had a short ceremony and then all of the guests went into the banquet hall for the dinner. During the dinner, there were several speeches. The bride never seemed to sit down during the dinner, as she was constantly changing outfits and parading around on stage. I didn’t stay for the entire dinner though, because it went quite late, but it was an interesting experience!

接下来有世纪公园、嘉定以及上海中心大厦。请稍后下一篇出版后就读。下篇正在筹划中。

SuperTrain

This weekend, 22-23 April 2017, the SuperTrain model train show was held in Calgary. I was lucky enough to go this year, after missing out for many years because it simply didn’t get put on the calendar at home. The location has moved from the Stampede grounds to the Genesis Centre in the northeast. It was very busy even though we arrived at the show at a reasonable time. All of the parking lots were already full.

There are four main exhibition halls, which were all pretty good, but there was one hall that stood out, as it had the best tracks in it! I remember a very long time ago, visiting the model railway at Emerald Lake. I think that that building is closed now unfortunately, but it was an excellent place to visit, and I was very upset when the last time we went there in 2007, we didn’t have enough time to visit.

My camera has returned from its trip to the repair facility and is now back in tip-top condition! Some of these shots are a bit grainy due to the mediocre lighting inside the exhibit halls. When you crank up the ISO to compensate for the lighting, the images become a bit grainy. These photos are absolutely no substitute for visiting a model railway though… the amount of work that goes into these models is phenomenal and the end result is unbelievable!