Canadiana Backpackers Blog

An hour of a half outside of Calgary in the heart of Canada’s Badlands is the town of Drumheller.  This area is famous for Dinosaur bones and the town is hardly a metropolis with a mere 8000 souls.

But just southeast of Drumheller is a “place” called Rosebud. I say “place” because it isn’t actually a town or even a village, but perhaps, a  hamlet - maybe.

It is a place of exactly 96 full time residents, virtually all of whom are involved with the Rosebud Theatre. This is Alberta’s largest full-time rural professional theatre.

It began as the location of a full time post-secondary theatre school and has been offering a full a season of productions since 1988. The 200 seat Rosebud Theatre plays to more than 40,000 each season.

Of the 96 residents of Rosebud, sixteen of them were in our hostel for the last few days. That is more than 16% of the town, er..village, er.. place!

They have been on a worldwind tour of New York and Toronto to catch live theatre productions in the world’s largest English theatre venue (New York) and the world’s third largest theatre centre (Toronto).

(It is still hotly debated if  Toronto or London England can claim the number two ranking; but we’ll give it to London so as not to bruise their fragile British egos.)

What is remarkable is the fact that among their favorite productions (Broadway nothwithstanding) was a Toronto Soulpepper Theatre production of the Canadian classic “Billy Bishop Goes to War” starring the esteemed Canadian thespian, Eric Peterson.

The Rosebud Theatre attracts large audiences during their theatre season. Most of their audience makes the drive from Calgary to catch the theatre’s offerings.

We wouldn’t blame you if you thought we were pulling your leg with this entry but you can check out their website for yourself.

http://www.rosebudtheatre.com/

And if you are in the Calgary area this summer check out their theatre. Their 2010 lineup looks pretty interesting.

The booming “metropolis” of Rosebud.

The 200 seat Rosebud Theatre.

Our Toronto hostel is located right in the middle of the Entertainment District. In fact, we are the most centrally located hostel in Toronto.

The Toronto landmark CN tower is three blocks away looming right over our threshold. And there are, literally, 20 - 30 nightclubs in a three block radius of our front door.

The Circa Nightclub is virtually across the street from our hostel. Fortunately, the entrance to this possibly largest club in North America is on the next block which cuts down on weekend noise.

It is a massive 55,000 square feet on three levels. There are, I believe, seven bars and several different dance/music areas. The capacity of the club is about 3000 guests.

The cover charge in this popular nightspot can be up to $20 just to enter. That’s pretty pricey for the average backpacker.

That’s where our hostel comes to the resuce.  We can organize a “Club Night” (unsually on Friday or Saturday) and we can get our “neighbours” at Circa to waive the cover charge for Hostel guests who arrive as a group.

Ask a hostel staff member well ahead of time if you want to visit this club and we will try to make the arrangements.

It really uis quite an “experience”. The club also contains a recording studio and screening room and has hosted world-famous DJ’s as well as acts such as “the Veronica’s” and the hip hop sounds of “Fifty Cent”.

It really is quite an experience.

Circa’s opening required massive construction/renovation.

Haloween at Circa.

Noted DJ David Guetta at Circa.

The largest nightclub in North America!

The hostel might be a little short-staffed for the next two weeks.

Sandra the hostel’s mamager and Michel, the weekend assistant manager have left for a two week sojourn to Lebanon.

When you are looking for a dead of winter vacation in a warm clime, Beiruit doesn’t spring to the top of too many lists.  But the couple have headed for two weeks in one of the world’s “hotspots”!

You see, Michel was born, raised and educated in Lebanon. his family is part of the large Christian minority of Lebanon.

He earned an MBA at the University there and now (a Canadian citizen) is a mid level banking executive. Hence, he only works at the hostel on weekends.

Sandra is the heart and soul of the hostel and is responsible for the smooth day to day operation for which our Toronto hostel is well-known.

But Sandra and Michel have been an “item” for a couple of years. It has never been an issue before but this is the first time they have taken a vacation at the same time!

We’ll do our best to cope.

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A Chinese meal to wish Sandra (3rd from left) and Michel (right) Bon Voyage!

Question: Who was the Olympic Champion who played Tarzan in films of the 1930’s?

If you can answer that question you’ve just answered the first question in tomorrows trivia quiz at the hostel.

It begins at eight and we’ll play three or four rounds of 25 questions each. You might win a Canadiana T Shirt.

In the past, some of the competitors have complained that the questions were too difficult and only managed five or six correct responses out of 25 questions.

But we did a test with a random “focus group” last week as part of the plan to reintroduce the quiz as an event. Either the contestants are getting smarter or the questions easier - or both!

The group of test subjects virtually aced the quizes and we did about a dozen of them!

So tomorrow. At 20:00 hrs (8 PM) join us in the common area for the Trivia Challenge!

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The “focus group” acing the Trivia Event!

Last evening, we saw Pauline, a language student from France a sitting by herself in the common room. Something just didn’t seem right. Something was missing.

Then we realized that her closest friend in the hostel Sophie from the Netherlands was nowhere to  be seen and we hadn’t seen her for a few days!

“Hey, Pauline,” we asked. “Where’s Sophie?”

“Holland,” she replied.

Oh yes. Sometimes the squirrel falls asleep in the wheel. Of course. Sophie has returned home for nine days. Her sister is getting married and she has been asked to be Maid of Honour. She’ll be back after next week!

But it is like that here at our Toronto hostel. Firm friendships are made between people from very diverse backgrounds. Pauline and Sophie have become such fast friends that we often remark that the two are inseperable and seemed joined-at-the-hip.

Seeing one without the other seems strange. Tonight is Karaoke Night at the Fox. We won’t be hearing Sophie and Pauline belting out a number together.

So I guess this brief separation is not all bad!

Sophie (m); Pauline (r); at Karaoke with Christine (from U.S.A,) on the left.

The more young universitsy grad/backpackers we meet, the bigger fans we become of the “Gap Year” concept.

That is. finish Secondary School. Pack your bags. Buy a ticket. Then spend the next year discovering the world and all it has to offer.

So often, a young pers0n is asked to decide the course of his entire life when he or she is still in their teens. More often than not, that is patently absurd.

Take Sophia, a young lady from France. She’s bright. attractive, focused well-qualified but she’s looking for “any” job.

In fact. Sophia is a qualified Optomitrist which we all know is a pretty good and lucrative career. Like so many young students she went straight from her secondary  to study Optometry.

She worked at it for a few years discovering she hated it!

Rather than falling into a rut and working at a job she didn’t enjoy  until she retires, she went back to school to study business and marketing. That decision landed her excellent positions in marketing and public relations.

Still, she has decided to take a break and travel. It is so difficult for some young  people to find their direction in life when they are still not sure of just what life has to offer.

So taking a Gap Year to work and travel is a lot like Captain Kirk of the Star Ship Enterprise when he l00ks out into the unknown, and says to his crew; Let’s see what’s out there.”

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La Belle Sophia avec Thibault.

We’ve said it before, but a lot of people seem to treat life as if it were a dress rehearsal.

You see a lot of individuals chasing dreams that they have been conditioned to desire and attain. And quite a number of people become pretty successful doing just that.

But that doesn’t necessarily mean they are happy.

Michael was a very successful corporate attorney.  He was actually our lawyer. And “was” is the operative word.

He’s still quite young and a good number of years short of the official retirement age of sixtly-five. He’s packed it in early. Quite a brave move.

Too many successful people have bought into the concept of professional success that will help them buy their dreams. Then they discover, late in life, that by the time they have got their shopping list together, a lot of stores have alrready been closed.

Michael has always enjoyed travel and films. So he’s retired early and is traveling with his wife to Rajasthan in the remote northwest of India. He’d always dreamed of making just such a journey.

He is also pursuing his avocation of independent film production and already has a few documentaries to his credit. A few feature films are in early production planning stages.

As we have constantly repeated in this blog ad nauseum, life can and should be a grand adventure. And for people like Michael, a new adventure is just beginning!

Our learned backpackpacker Michael.

Some of our backpackers have come to Canada to improve their English skills. The formation of the European Union has addeded impetus to learn English as a logical common language.

So we get a lot of Europeans coming here to travel and practice English.

However, not so many Dutch or German backpackers  come here for that reason.  The majority (virtually all of them) speak excellent English.

And we make allowance for that. About six of our staff members  are fluent Francophones. In fact, all of our staff members have a facility with a second language, (The only exceptions are our Irish staff membersmost of  whom are still working on English, it seems!).

We can help our guests with French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese and even Afrikaans. We could manage Dutch and German too; however, I can’t recall that ever being  necessary; the Germans and Dutch all speak excellent English.

There is a great temptation for a lot of backpackers who aren’t as fluent with English to retreat to what is culturally and linguisticly familiar.

Spanish seek fellow Spanish; the French congregate; Japanese only interact with other Japanese etc. The result is the majority make little progress towards their stated goal of  improving English skills.

So often a gloden opportunity is often squandered.

It really is a strange feeling when you are forced to admit that the two people you meet that seem to have their priorities sorted out happen to be lawyers.

Michael is the second lawyer/backpacker we’ve had whom, at the height of his career, found he had enough and made himself free on the earth!

The first example was John a noted trial lawyer from Anchorage, Alaska. He had the enviable record as never losing a case he argued before the courts.

While still a realtively young man in his mid fifties, he closed his practice; bought a motorcycle and headed south.

He roared up to our hostel in the summer of 2007 on his way to his boyhood home in the United States. He then sold off his assets and joined the Peace Corps.

He left for Thailand for the usual Peace Corps stint. But instead found a soulmate (a Thai lady with a Master’s Degree in English from a British University). Both individuals had been so wrapped up in their respective careers that neither had married.

In a nutshell he’s now married and settled in Thailand and living the dream!

The second Lawyer., Kevin is a successful corporate lawyer/film producer who at about the same age as John called it quits. His children have grown and long ago left his nest.

Kevin and his wife have packed their bags and are heading for India to explore Rajasthan in the remote northwest of India.

Both John and Kevin have enjoyed successful careers as solicitors. But it seems that they have discovered what is truly important and have decided to pursue their dreams.

They say life is and should be a grand adventure. And for Kevin and John a new adventure is just beginning at a time when others are winding down.

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John from Alaska - gone “native” in Thailand.

We always write about being a “downtown” hostel. In fact we are the most downtown hostel in Toronto!

We are right in the middle of the “Entertainment District” three blocks from the landmark CN Tower. We are one block from the new Film Fesival Towers  currently under construction. (When completed, the new building will house and attract  visiting film stars.)

The hostel is located two blocks from major theatre venues and a multi-screen Cineplex Movie Theatre is right across the street!

In short, there is a lot happening at and around the hostel each and every day!

Movies, television shows, rock videos are filmed on our street and at times, even in the hostel itself. This is in addition to the lives, activities and stories of our resident backpackers.

The pics below were taken on a typical day - both the day and photos, randomly chosen.

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Backpackers around the reception desk.

A reunion of backpackers after seven years (See previous entry: “Hostel Reunion”)

Mary and Grace - two Irish beauties!

All the girls love Francois our Mascot Bear!

Filming a Rock Video on our front steps!

The filming showing the Muti-Plex Cinema across ther street!