St. John's, Newfoundland

Where are you now? Corner Brook...wow.

I've been living in Toronto since 1993. My folks are both from Corner Brook. I was born in St.John's and raised in Labrador.
We went back to St. John's for my last year of high school, and I did my "don't-know-what-to-do-so-I'll-do-a-year-of-liberal-arts"
thing at Memorial University. Came to Toronto to go to Ryerson and just never left. You guys?

I'm an American in a mixed marriage with a guy from Moose Factory/Huntsville/North Bay, Ontario. We moved to Vancouver last summer after 6 years in Denver. Mr. Kate is interviewing for a job at Memorial.

Wow!

Teaching, I assume?

Yeah, a tenure-track position in climatology. We shall see how it goes. Where are your folks now?

My Dad has moved back to Corner Brook, my Mom is about an hour outside there in a town called Stephenville.

http://www.bookclubs.ca/images/dyn/cover/?source=9780676972153&height=300&maxwidth=170

This novel gave me a good picture of the place. I've always wanted to visit there.

xpost: Best of luck, kate78!

I couldn't make it to the end of that book, Eazy.

xpost, thanks for the book tip, Eazy. I'm making my way through Giller Prize nominees as a part of my assimilation.

Your Mr. sounds like a smart dude and Memorial is a surprisingly good university given its location. I had a good prof back in the day that did his PhD there. For my part, I grew up in the Second Largest City in Newfoundland and yet have never set foot on d'Rock. See if you can figure that one out because it may come up in a pub quiz some day ;-) and it also will enhance your understanding of the brutal migration patterns triggered by rampant, pointless Canadian capitalism.

Also: please ask your Mr. what is the best way to meet these American girls. Will trade fish recipes for pick-up lines lol.

I'm born and raised st. john's, left after high school, and still make it back 4 or 5 times a year. happy to field questions about what to be at & if to go. if you're at the stage where you want to settle down and maybe have some kids, it has a lot going for it: extremely safe, extremely friendly, and actually very cultured for a town its size (there's a long history of of storytelling, dancing, theatre, drinking and live music that is enjoying a kind of renaissance at the moment. compared to similar-sized cities in ontario where i've lived it is a bastion for the arts). incredible scenery and hiking minutes from or even in town.

the downsides are the seemingly interminable winters (but oh when it lifts it is like a whole town of pardoned captives frolicking and doffing their caps) and the fact that it is so isolated (though st. john's to gatwick direct flights just got reinstated today!). Memorial is good school, esp the med school and engineering, though i didn't go there...

I wanted to apply to Memorial University for grad school this year but their program didn't have quite the focus I was looking for. Loved St. John's when I visited a few years ago, so that made me sad. But I really like small cities, coasts, cold places, and Irish music, and I was just visiting....

Good luck to Mr. with the interview!

it sucks you're visiting in feb. i can check out what's going on and post it here if i hear of anything good.

re scenery and such: 10 minutes from my (centrally located) house:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2123/2454342497_038dc1fb10.jpg?v=0
quidi vidi brewery, 1 min from there^^
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/222/446888915_93f8eb94d6.jpg?v=0
& the battery, which wraps around signal hill, with st. j in the background
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2124/2613371564_c19d93cf29.jpg?v=0
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/environment/images/battery_hansen.jpg

Holy shit, those pictures are amazing.

The isolation is what's worrying to me...wanting to leave but not being able to.

xpost to salmon: you grew up in Corner Brook and have never been to Labrador?

Like the man says ... direct flight to Gatwick. That fucking monument to population density will send you screaming back to NFLD in NO TIME. As long as you don't leave the airport NFLD will always seem like paradise. Just mill around in the air-conditioned duty free shops and chain restaurants, watching the English shitting themselves and vomiting into McDonalds cups until you feel like killing yourself ... and then get on your return flight. Easy!

But no, I should say Second Largest City in Newfoundland by population of Newfoundlanders, not by geography.

isolation...i don't know. like i live downtown in huge city now, and though it's nice to know i could, i never actually do leave the same few square miles...so there's that. plus, it's not like you can't get off the island or anything, it's just a bit more expensive to get to toronto or NY than if you lived in say halifax, and there's always seat sales of course. plus, it's like the sixth biggest island EVER or something so there's lot's to see.

what are you looking to do while you're there, kate? you should make a res at atlantica -- look at the tasty foods: http://atthebeachhouse.ca/Multimedia/Gallery.aspx

also good are basho, the vault, bianca's, the pepper mill, blue on water, aqua, bacalhau, pi, of course ches's fish and chips...all good.

def check out george street: trapper john's museum and pub to get screeched in if you wanna be a tourist and then you should prob move on, the ship inn for great weird local music and o'reilly's for pop-trad or erin's pub for just trad. lots of late night spots if you can suss them out. the bar above peddlers is a nice martini spot, and the sundance usu has stuff going on and is pretty massive. the republic on duckworth (do u like rugby players?), duke of duckworth, nautical nellie's, and trinity pub are all great, friendly old-school pubs. bridie molloys or mustangs for late night fare.

"the rooms" just opened a yr or two ago and is great museum to see local artists and travelling exhibitions and to take pictures looking over the harbour. also, rent a car and drive in any direction and you will see cool stuff, promise.

you CAN go st. j - hali - heatrow....

fort mac im assuming? xpost

yeah, re: restaurants: Lord Thundering Jesus, I live in a city thirty times the size of SJ and I'm not not sure I could name that many decent places to eat. Well done Sn'Jahns.

i guess it's the right size that if a good new restaurant opens, you hear about it. but they really are all world class. fucking amazing seafood in that city.

maybe not ALL...pi is like nu-pizza

Wow, thanks, rent. Impressive list.
I'm a nurse, so I'm not very worried about finding work.

watching the English shitting themselves and vomiting into McDonalds cups

We really don't do this much.

here are some good restaurants:

bianca’s: amazing menu and the best wine list east of montreal

the vault’s valentine’s day menu mmm

Blue hotel and restaurant

the cellar

the casbah – fun and not too too $$

basho -- Japanese-newfoundland fusion stuff

bacalao – cozy, good food

yellow belly brewery

brunch at the Fairmont, formerly Hotel Newfoundland

Restaurant 21 – great views of the city

stonehouse – haute chinois in a heritage building

magnum & stein’s – prob the best steakhouse on the island

the abbey – part of “the spa at the monastery” – hotel, spa, restaurant, etc.

pi’s kraaazy pizzas

the sprout for excellent vegetarian

lot's of great pics here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=127701
http://www.pbase.com/joecanada/image/73570676/large.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/joecanada/image/73299824/original.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/joecanada/image/74028887.jpg

sorry to be such a blatant cheerleader, but it really is such a vibrant, unique, history-rich city, and hearing it referred to as "the arse end of nowhere" does chafe a bit.

from lonely planet:

Guess what, provinces? Rock and bogs be damned, because travel industry mavens just picked Newfoundland as a new global hot spot; it shares space on the worldwide Top Ten list with the likes of the Seychelles and Abu Dhabi.

This place has it going on. Rocks can be cool, especially if they’re ancient and hikeable, like the ones in Gros Morne National Park. And being a remote island has its advantages: it means you’re surrounded by drifting blue icebergs from April through early July, and spouting whales in August. Pile on seasonal activities – skiing at Marble Mountain (no queues!) in winter, kayaking at Witless Bay (alongside whales!) in summer – and you’ll see why we’re talking hot spot.

But the thing that truly sets Newfoundland apart is its personality. You’ve heard of offbeat? This region is so offbeat it even has its own time zone (a half-hour ahead of the Maritimes). Cod tongues, moose burgers and partridgeberry pies are some of the unusual foods that warm local plates. And the accent? Well, suffice it to say Newfoundland has its own dictionary for all its quirky words and pronunciations.

fort amherst, across the harbour & replete with underground tunnels and giant ww2 canons so u can shoot the phantom u-boats:
http://www.math.mun.ca/~foster/iceberg.jpg
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1357/609955985_e8065ecdd9.jpg?v=0

that last pic is wow!

Those last two pics are wow! Hello, iceberg!

this used to be my playground :'(

You're making me want to move there (and wish I'd applied to Memorial, after all)! The iceberg and cliff pictures remind me so much of Greenland, except St. John's is more accessible and English-speaking. My toes are still numb from the comparatively mild Boston winter, and now I'm daydreaming about the subarctic....

check it out gulf stream effect:

St. John's has the third mildest winter in comparison to other Canadian cities.[10] St. John's has a humid continental climate (Dfb) with cool-to-warm summers, and relatively mild winters for Canada (cold by a world standard).

--wiki

so what IS the weather like up there in february, then?!?

well lots and lots of snow. feet upon feet of snow. great towering drifts of snooow. relatively little sunshine for a few months there as well. dramatic, concentrated fog coming in from the harbour, so low and thick you could reach your hand and stir it up like cotton candy floating down from heaven (nb this is a fanciful lie).

there's lots of cross country skiing and snowshoeing etc, but for a few months every year the drag is the almost constant low grey overcast ceiling hanging right over your head. but everyone gets to complain endlessly about it and/or pretend it's no thing in the company of tourists. it rarely drops below -10 iirc, compared with -30 to -50 for many major CAN cities.

huh. it was -15º before wind chill here in T. yesterday and we're way further south!

oh i forgot wind. lots of wind.

yeah, im actually in toronto now too and it never really gets this cold. this is not even fit. thank god for the path.

not a climatologist or anything but i think it has to do with the fact that the labrador current and the gulf stream more or less meet in the waters off st. john's, thus temoering extremes but also creating lots of fog. it actually is kind of cool to see the fog come rolling in -- it looks soetimes like a bigger version of the smokemonster.

but yeah: it doesn't get either as hot or as cold as toronto, halifax, calgary, etc. the summers are really nice though -- usu keeping between 20-30 C.

i think the only canadian cities with warmer winters are vancouver & victoria.

aye, it comes:
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1192/536426177_a0dbb9c78d.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/6/6808601_34d2c01764.jpg?v=0
(cabot tower on the left)

Half hour/hour time zone=cognitive dissonance.

Thanks for all the great advice on this thread, you guyz. We had a great time when we were there, which is good, cos Mr. Kate got the job and we're moving later this year! Serious FAPing when yall are home for the holidays, ok?

didn't see this thread before but wow it looks remarkable. good luck with it all.

hey! congrats and good luck!

(ill keep this bookmarked in case u have a question i can answer)

very worried about this. the latest i've heard is that they have one of the 18 at the Heath Sciences in St. John's, and have postponed a press conference in order to "brief" families. i know so many people out on the rigs. this is sure to become personal, at least by one degree of separation.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/03/12/offshore-helicopter.html#socialcomments

one of my friends was going to go out today, and chose not to, but is still scheduled to fly out tomorrow.

oh no

ok press conference just ended: http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=231230&sc=79

Two liferafts have been located but have not been retrieved. There is no indication as to whether there is anyone in the rafts. Officials expect to have that information soon.

Fuck rent, I hope all your people (or people's people) are okay.

That's totally spooky, I hope he's okay.

yikes, spooky indeed

ugh, what a nightmare. reading this: tough odds... makes r0b3rt's escape seem all the more miraculous. apparently he's critical but stable.

already i've heard a few other one/two-degree-of-separation stories, but that's nfld for better or worse.

a very significant, almost too-lucky-to-be-believed bright spot. so happy for his mom, who's a sweetheart:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/03/16/sole-survivor-rcmo.html

ive heard other v encouraging things.

http://www.harkavagrant.com/history/lanseauxfinal.png

http://nymag.com/travel/weekends/stjohns/

oh, huh, that's a few months old. i didnt realize. just saw it...btw my friend from upthread is fine, saw him out this summer etc, though obv that's something he's prob gonna have to deal with for a long while. its all still pretty unbelievable.

anyways, go to nfld, you guys. it is great.

I'm trying! My guy moved out there two months ago, and I'm stuck in Washington waiting for my immigrant visa (admittedly, there are way worse places to be stuck than the PacNW). I'll be visiting in two weeks, though. Rent, are you gonna be around at all in the next year?

im not sure, actually. im working in asia at the moment, so for the first time i might actually go a year or two without setting foot on the island. unless maybe theres an important wedding or something. if i am i will def let you know, though. is mr kate enjoying it so far? if i hear of good stuff to do over the next month or so ill post it here.

two of my friends just had their honeymoons there. (that is to say to separate couples)

all loved it obv.

Mr Kate is loving St. John's, despite the hefty initial expenditure on rain gear. That's some crazy weather they've been having this week.

I'm hoping my visa will come through the 1st quarter on 2010 so I can move by the summer. But yeah, everyone go to nfld and look me up when you get here!

Got here today! Message me when any of you natives come back to town.

Excellent. Convert the town into a stronghold for ILX.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

BTW, Ned, I never let you know how great it was to meet you at PopCon: very great! Now come visit!

lovely weather out there i trust?!

Hey, thanks Kate! While I'll be in Canada soon I won't get any closer than Montreal -- but next time!

toronto?

Yup. Is there a general Toronto FAP thread?

once upon a time there was...

not alot of ilxors left here. it might just be you and me staring each other down.

Thermo, shaddup. It took me two days and three flights to land in St. John's. One flight canceled, one diverted to Stephenville before it went back to Newark, where I spent the night on the floor. Yesterday's weather was lovely, though. It'll totally clear up soon, right? Right?!

xpost -- There's a slew of folks I'm meeting up with in Toronto, including many former ILX types, so we'll just combine everything! More to say closer to the time.

big storm! hope you're okay, kate, if you're still reading this.

Yep, I'm here! Lost power from 4pm til 4am, fence fell over, house landed on my sister, but all is okay now. I live in central STJ's and have fared a lot better than say, the entire Bonavista peninsula.

Are you coming back to the Rock anytime soon? How'd your people fare?

we lost a big, beautiful elm on our front lawn but other than that, nothing serious. they're in central too, and just got their power back tonight. i actually hadn't realized it was as bad as it was. mom was saying there's entire communities that have been devastated, some with no food and no access to food, ppl being washed out to sea, etc. crazy.

happy you're okay. sorry to hear that a house LANDED ON YOUR SISTER SORRY WHAT?

i was actually home really briefly this summer, but it was so, so hectic. had a brand new nephew in one wing of the health sciences and my grandmother in another, plus the usual -try to see everyone i've ever met in a week and half- craziness. sorry for not getting in touch. next time maybe we can grab a pint or something.

so, but, you're mostly enjoying it overall? :/

happy you're okay. sorry to hear that a house LANDED ON YOUR SISTER SORRY WHAT?

Uh yeah. What the hell.

http://lspoon.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/feetpopping1.jpg

i heard about dude getting swept out into the ocean! wasn't sure if that was for real or just a rumour.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/police-identify-man-swept-to-sea-during-hurricane-igor/article1720397/

i have to say, i've never really taken storms very seriously in nfld, just kind of enjoyed them, cuz it's always just the tail end of whatever rolls up the coast from the gulf. got kinda real this time, though.

Power's back to most of the traffic lights in the city today. Ran into some folks from round the bay today who will be waiting another two weeks.
A gigantic cruise ship is in the harbor and the tourists are taking photos of felled trees in Bannerman Park.

Another hurricane.

Ophelia hits late tonight and will make three hurricanes in the past year.

i just thought to search ilx for my home. Nice thread. Hello? :)

Julie on her second tour reminiscing
Three Decembers in New York City
Selling fir trees
Pack a truck with 90 fir trees
Pack 'em tight

Julie on her second tour reminiscing
The cassette of Daydream Nation worn out
The Bernadette Peters autograph on my cast
The CBGB T-shirt I'm wearing

The drive down from St. John's
Was almost always easy
The drive back
On Christmas Day was not

According to Rick, the "Julie" referenced is Ms. Doiron.

shared a bottle of ... something with her outside The Ship pub in 2012. Good times!

man i love that song.

i enjoy the extremities of north america so i'd really like to see st. john's sometime.

the St John in that song isn't St John's, NFLD, alas, but St John, New Brunswick (closer to Julie's stomping grounds)

happens all the time!

Oh lord, how embarrassing of me... Apologies, my Canadian friends!

(I did read The Shipping News long before it was an Oprah book of the month if that gives me a tiny bit more credibility!)