Journal

The second month

Eight weeks have already passed since our arrival, and we haven't even gotten bored since then. Daniel is very busy with his studies, and as an au pair, Carolina has a fair bit to do as well. We really settled into everyday life, but there is still enough time left to experience Canada. Whether it's just lying on the beach or exploring North Vancouver, there's always a lot to do in a big city. This weekend we were at the beach and thus swimming for the first time. Next weekend, we'd like to either see the ocean by kayak, or we'll climb Grouse Mountain. There's just incredibly much to do and to see here.

But of course we aren't here just for fun. Every morning, we stand on the ice punctually at 7 a.m. and start to practice. Additionally, since last week this has also meant icy cold because our practice group moved into an ice hockey rink; to be precise, we now practice on the ice of the "Vancouver Canucks," the local hockey team. Practice still goes on in the same way, i.e. practicing the compulsory dances (this season: Paso Doble and Viennese Waltz), and of course working out our new free program and the original dance. The themes for the original dance for all ice dance teams of this season are the 1920s (i.e. Charleston, Quickstep, etc.) and/or swing music of the 1930s and 1940s.

As many certainly know from television, we're training here with Victor Kraatz and his wife Maikki. Victor is the 2003 World Champion in ice dancing, but Maikki also has a lot of experience in this field. In addition, she is also very well-trained in other types of dance without skates. Both work very intensely with us in order to enable a good start into the season at the Nebelhorn-Trophy in Oberstdorf. After the sessions on the ice, we proceed with athletics, ballet or dance training.

In the past two weeks, we could regularly be seen on the VOX documentary series "Auf und davon" ("Up and Away"). A camera team had accompanied us back in Dortmund and then for 10 days here in Vancouver. Overall, the shootings were a lot of fun, and we hope that you could get an impression of our life here. We would also like to thank you for the many e-mails, Facebook and StudiVZ messages. Even though we couldn't answer all of them so far, we were very happy to receive such a positive feedback.

Thanks a lot,
Carolina & Daniel