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So I went hiking today. Up the Squamish Chief, which is about 1.5 hours drive out of Vancouver. This was no walking track, it was more like rock climbing! Uphill for 1.5 hours, sometimes on all fours, sometimes up ladders, and there were even a couple of chains to help get up rock faces. Lani was amazing, she did the whole thing with 6-month old Maya on her back! The views from the top where we stopped for lunch made it all worthwhile. Then it was back down. Needless to say, my legs are a wee bit tired now!
The Shannon Falls, near the start of the hike.
Lani and Maya, who fell asleep on the descent!
"This trail is NOT a walk in the park" - they were not joking!!
One of the ladders on the trail.
Part of the view from the top.
Me with my new friend - she was so good on the hike!!
Continuing with the exercise theme... I've noticed an interesting trend over here: exercise gear as street wear. Or, more specifically, yoga gear. These women walk around in tight black yoga pants and there is no way they can all be coming from or going to yoga classes. They shop in them, lunch in them, go to the movies in them! Some can get away with it but others probably shouldn't - TMI. I commented on it to someone and they said "yeah, it's a B.C. thing" - apparently British Columbians have a reputation for being super sporty. And the 'yoga gear as street wear' trend seems to be tied to the rapidly increasing popularity of the chain lululemon athletica who specialise in yoga gear. You're not cool if you're not wearing their yoga pants and hoodie. Cut-off track pants are popular too. But you don't do it yourself, you pay lots of $ for designer "cropped" trackies.Another thing I've noticed is that it seems much more acceptable to strike up conversation with strangers here. I've observed it several times while "oot and aboot". And on Sunday as I was walking back from the grocery store and brooding on my joblessness a man coming the other way said "You're carrying two bags of food! You should look much happier!", then he gave me a big grin and said "Have a great day!" before continuing on. I had to smile.Speaking of jobs... I have an interview tomorrow! I was beginning to think I had 'resume leprosy' or something, but apparently not. It doesn't sound very exciting, mainly data entry, but hey, it's an interview! The woman called while I was standing near the waterfall this morning and I couldn't hear much of what she said, and I didn't have pen or paper, so she said she'd email me. She called back a few hours later as she wanted to arrange an interview tomorrow morning, and again I was by the waterfall on my way back down, and still couldn't hear much! But I got home and there was an email with the details. It's actually a temp agency I have to see, and I'll need to do all their tests (typing etc), which will be a first for me.Fingers crossed! (not during the typing test though)P.S. I've changed the settings so now you can add a comment without having to register with the site first.
Waterfront buildings.
Coal Harbour Seawalk.
Stanley Park seawall, heading towards English Bay beach.
An example of the tree-lined sidewalks (not footpaths!) in my new neighbourhood.
I think I'm over bagels with cream cheese already! I had too many.So I decided to take the apartment that I really liked and I move in June 1st. Its in the West End which is a really pretty part of the city, just west of downtown and handy to Stanley Park, English Bay Beach, Davie St shops etc. I will take some more photos soon to show the picturesque tree-lined streets and old houses. I'm excited to be moving there, only now I have to find work so I can afford it!
Today and yesterday have been a bit cool, but otherwise we've been having lots of lovely sunny weather, definitely getting into shorts, t-shirt and jandals weather! (I'll have to find out what 'jandals' are called here!). I've been enjoying the summer fruit such as strawberries and pineapple. The sun is up well before 6am and it doesn't get dark till around 9:30pm.
Tonight I'm going to dinner with the daughter of the retired surgeon I met on the flight from LA to Vancouver. He and his daughter cycled through NZ last year so they are happy to help out a Kiwi and return some of the hospitality that was extended to them while in NZ. He is back home in LA now but because I didn't know anyone here, he gave me his daughter's number so I could make contact. So tonight I'm going to meet the daughter, her husband and some friends of theirs. I tried to find some NZ wine to take with me but it was all a bit pricey so I had to make do with some Aussie stuff!!I'm liking the 1.5L bottles of cheap red wine by the way, you can't get them that big at home! Just while I'm on a tight budget of course, then I can get back to searching out the 'fine wine' ;-)
I still haven't seen much of the wider area - just concentrating on the job hunt at the moment, but I'm looking forward to exploring further once I've got some money coming in. Can't wait to buy a mountain bike too.
Current score:
Job applications sent: 8. Interviews: 0. Job offers: 0.
I'm developing a taste for bagels and cream cheese! We do have them in NZ but they're more widely available here. Cinnamon and raisin with plain (light) cream cheese is my current thing. Blueberry bagels with strawberry cream cheese are pretty good too!After several days of eye drops, my eyes were not improving, so I decided it was time to see a doctor. I went to a place nearby where I thought I'd seen some medical practice signs and entered this slightly tired and run-down looking grey building. I inquired at this tiny pharmacy with dirty carpet and half-stocked shelves if there were doctors in the building, and she sent me up to the second floor to see if I could get an appointment. I entered the pink waiting area with pink vinyl seats, broken flower pots, and generally depressing 70s/80s decor and enquired with the receptionist who quickly made it clear she didn't want to help me. I didn't have a health care card for one thing, everyone has to have one she says, and then concedes that as a visitor perhaps I can pay cash. So I finally got the dragon to get me an appointment and the doctor was able to see me in about 10mins! His office was like entering a time warp -wood veneer panelling peeling off the desk and examination table, marble inkstand with plastic ink-wells, no computer, one of those nasty clear plastic floor mats faded yellow, and to top it all off, a faded watercolour of headless musicians! He gave me a prescription for more eye drops ("Those over-the-counter ones never work", apparently) and I hurried out of there. Think I'll look for another doctor, should the need arise again!!It seems that it was a good move to get an apartment right away, even though it's just for a month. I keep meeting other job-seekers who are so stressed out because they're living in a hostel while trying to find work. Although the apartment is not cheap, its actually cheaper than being in a hostel for a month! And I get my own room and a good nights' sleep every night! I had a couple of new friends over last night, an Aussie girl and a German girl, and they are getting really tired of the job hunt and both are thinking about packing it in and going home. Apparently it's really hard to get employers to take you on when you're on a work visa, because employers get sick of these young people who stay for only 6 months or so, and then leave! Now they tell me!! I've also heard other stuff like employers here are really bad at getting back to you when you apply for a job, and that it often takes a couple of months to find work. I'm trying to stay positive!Went to look at an apartment yesterday and it was one of those ones where as soon as you walk in, you think 'No, it's definitely not for me' and I would have said so if only the woman let me get a word in. She talked non-stop for 30 minutes and everything in her apartment was mint green. Everything - even the wastepaper baskets, and a mini trampoline that had mint satin trim. The only area not minty fresh was the bedroom for rent, which was all done in lilac! It was creepy and I just wanted to leave. She casually said towards the end of her 30mins, 'Oh, by the way, I sleep on the couch. You won't notice, about 5 minutes before I go to bed, it turns into my bedroom'. You have to watch out for that here and remember to ask how many bedrooms there are and how many people live there.I went to look at another apartment today which I really liked. It's in a heritage building with high ceilings and wood panelling and the girl renting it was pretty cool (and she had her own room!). But my dilemma is, do I take on a really nice place that is kinda expensive, before I find a job? On the one hand, taking it fits with the 'think positive' thing - move in to a place I love and believe I will find work soon - but on the other hand, it's quite scary to watch your savings evaporate and not know when or where you might find work! I said I'd think about it and get back to her tomorrow.So the current score is:Applications sent: 4. Interviews: 0. Job offers: 0.
Picking up from my last post, I went back to the swimming pool the next day and had a swim. It was okay. But I woke up the next day with an eye infection! Can't be sure I got it from the pool but it seems like a strong possibility. I got some eyedrops to clear it up but it was really bad timing as I had my meeting with Opus in the afternoon. I was going to explain my bloodshot eyes and lack of makeup, but I forgot, so I hope they didn't think I was stoned or something!
The meeting went okay; they don't have any work for me themselves, but are going to send me a list of contacts for other consultancies that I could try. However it helped reinforce to me that I came over here for a change and I'd be quite happy to just do some admin work or something for a few months, as the main point of being here is to enjoy and explore Canada. We'll see. I'm going to try to talk to someone at the city council and see what they have there.
I noticed another thing that comes super-sized over here: laundry powder. It seems impossible to find any boxes smaller than something you could fit a small child into. Which is not very helpful when you've got to carry your shopping some distance home, and you only want a small amount because you're in a hostel or short term stay like I am at the apartment. In the end I found some liquid stuff that was a bit smaller.
I caught the SkyTrain out to Metrotown yesterday which is an enormous multi-level shopping centre. I want to know why you have to go underground to catch the "Sky"train - what's up with that, huh? To be fair it is on raised tracks once you get out of the central city but I still think it's funny. I spent about 3 hours at Metrotown and didn't even cover all the shops on one level. I bought one t-shirt, which I badly needed as my last minute efforts at reducing the amount of stuff in my suitcase before leaving NZ has left me with a rather odd selection of clothing over here!
I had some KFC chips while shopping and was alarmed to discover that they don't taste the same at all! None of that tasty seasoning on them. However they do have Poutine on the menu, which we don't have in NZ. It's a Canadian thing (from a particular region but I forget which one) where your chips are served with gravy and cheese curds. Really healthy! Not. But I'm definitely going to try it sometime - I've always liked chips with gravy :-)
Our internet connection at the apartment has been down for the last 3 days and it's driving me nuts as it's the main tool I need for job searching, finding a new place to live at the end of the month, and keeping in touch with friends and family! So I told my roommate I'm not paying him all the rent I owe if he doesn't sort it out, because the agreement was for utilities included. Right now I'm back at the hostel I stayed at for one night, using their wireless network.
I signed up with a local video store the other day and was amazed when they printed out the membership agreement on a dot matrix printer!! Old school! It's not the first time I've seen one here - they printed my visa document (that gets folded up and stapled into your passport) out on one too. There was something a little odd about watching the immigration officer in his high-tech bullet-proof vest ripping off the low-tech perforated edges of the paper!
I went out last night with Kylie and some of her friends from her hostel. Five of them have just found a house together so they were excited about that. They were a really nice bunch of girls even though they're all Aussies ;-) and it was a good night. Up until we went into this club and after having waited in the queue outside for a while, we made a beeline for the bathroom, and I was quite disturbed to see that there were obviously two girls in one stall, one of them nearly comatose and spewing, and her friend trying to get her upright and awake. The toilets were a mess and I refused to use them, and left to find a staff member who I told about the girl and suggested that she needed assistance. Of course it's not the first time I've seen someone who is a drunken mess, but it just killed the mood for me. The others couldn't understand it and said I needed to have some more drinks! Maybe it was all that work I did before leaving NZ on strategies for reducing alcohol related harm - perhaps it has increased my awareness of the issues?? In some places they are quite strict about not allowing you to order a second drink without ordering food (I think that's the law) but obviously people seem to find ways around it - I didn't see any food in that nightclub! It was also interesting that everyone entering had to have their photo taken along with a picture of their ID. So anyway I didn't stay for any more drinks!
Don't forget to keep me updated with news from home! Sorry if I've been a bit slow to reply to some emails but limited internet access has been a pain in the rear end. But I will reply, I promise!
Bye for now, J.
I went to the Vancouver Aquatic Centre this afternoon for a swim. I carefully counted out the entry fee and took a little bit extra in case prices had gone up since my Lonely Planet guide book was printed, and sure enough they had gone up, and I was 0.35c short so no swim. Oh well.I haven't managed to get lost yet, the downtown is nicely laid out in a grid pattern with short blocks and it's very walkable and pretty good for cyclists too. Cars actually stop for pedestrians which is a nice change from Wellington!! I came across a new type of crossing today that I hadn't seen before, just a couple of lines painted across the road but no signals and no zebra stripes. I hesitated as it was a busy road but the cars stopped for me and I crossed safely.What else have I been up to since my last post? Had a fairly quiet weekend. Got invited out with some girls from the hostel Saturday night but by the time they got organised it was pretty late and central heating and a good book won out over trying to find some bar I'd never been to before, by myself in the cold and dark. Did I mention it was raining? Maybe I'm just getting old.Sunday morning I went for a walk across Burrard Bridge and had a look around the shops in Kitsilano, which is a trendy area to live not far from downtown. After spending a couple of hours looking around I decided to try to get a bus back. Trying public transport in a new country for the first time can be a bit daunting if you're on your own, but I was game and my feet were sore. I just arrived at the bus stop when a woman walked up and said "You've got the same idea as me, I don't want to carry all these bags back, but I'm not sure how often the buses run on a Sunday?" so we looked at the sign together, couldn't find any info about weekend times, and decided to walk instead. I offered to help carry some of her bags so we shared her load and had a pleasant walk and chat about Vancouver (over the roar of traffic on the bridge). She's lived here all her life. We parted ways a couple of blocks from my apartment and I thought wow, people are pretty friendly here. And I'd forgotten all about my tired feet.Later I met up with the girl I was trying to connect with the previous evening and we had coffee in Davie St which is a fun alternative street decorated with rainbow flags. "Loud and proud" is how someone described it to me. Lots of places just have filter coffee but Kylie wanted a cappucino so we asked in a diner-type place and the girl said she couldn't think of any place (other than the ubiquitous chain stores) that served anything other than filter. We decided to keep walking and two doors down we found a coffee shop that served cappucinos and plenty of other types besides!!After chatting for a while we decided to go for a walk in the rain and cold to check out Chinatown. It was quite a walk but we both had nothing better to do so it seemed like a good idea. I had a map that showed Chinatown and we made our way there. I should have known better, because several people had warned me about the rough area between Gastown and Chinatown, but I somehow forgot or didn't quite realise that our route would take us through there. My map didn't warn me! (I needed a safety map huh Frank?) So anyway we're walking along and all of a sudden we're in this area with lots of people just hanging around on street corners, many of them seeming to have their worldly posessions in piles on the sidewalk nearby, drug deals going down and just a generally dodgy, run-down, scary place for us to be! Kylie sort of freaked out but we kept walking and eventually made our way to Chinatown, which was a different world and yet only one block over. Only one person hassled us, a woman started following us and asking us to buy her a piece of pizza, over and over but she eventually gave up. I'm glad to have seen and experienced that area first-hand, but I was quite glad to leave it too!I didn't especially like Chinatown because I found the smell of dried fish and dried mushrooms etc quite overpowering and not particularly pleasant. But we'd worked up an appetite after our scary walk so we decided to get dinner at a Chinese diner where there were lots of Chinese people (always a good sign that the cuisine is good) eating at plastic tables. The food was tasty and cheap and the servings were huge! We got a bus back after that. So now I've been to dodgy East Hastings St and ridden public transport!I went to get a Social Insurance Number (SIN) today- everyone has to have a SIN in order to access any sort of govt services. To get one, I had to go to the same place that issues passports, and I'd been forewarned that the queues are really long because the rules have changed and now Canadians must have a passport to cross the border into the U.S. so they're all rushing to get one. I asked my Canadian roommate if Americans have to have one to come to Canada and he replied he wasn't sure, he thought it was just a "U.S. beef up the border, Homeland Security-type freak out thing". So anyway I took a book and some water, arrived at 9:15 a.m. and joined the back of a rather long queue that stretched half a block. I was just starting to get into my book when a woman came along to check everyone had the right documentation and she told me I didn't need to wait, this was the queue for passports only! I went straight to the front, upstairs, and got my SIN within 5 minutes! I felt sorry for all the people waiting.I'm getting used to some of the different words for things here. Yes they speak English, but it's Canadian English. I caused some amusement in a Subway store by asking for gherkins, which apparently are called pickles. You get takeout (not takeaway) and pop instead of soft drinks. Kebabs are donairs - not doners, but 'dough-nears'.Oh and on the job front? Haven't applied for anything yet but have been doing research on possible organisations to work for, and I have a meeting arranged for Thursday which I hope will yield some options. Watch this space!
Isn't he cute!It's noticable how much bigger things are over here - the cars, the servings, even the seagulls! I saw a stretch Hummer today - crazy! I wanted to take a photo but the lights changed and it took off.The weather has been cool - around 12C - but people seem to think its summer already! They're eating at sidewalk cafes, sunbathing, and some are even wearing shorts and t-shirts. 12C here is much nicer than 12C in Wellington because there's hardly any wind. It does rain a lot here though, apparently almost non-stop for the last 3 months! This week it has rained every morning and then cleared in the afternoon, apart from today which has been lovely and sunny all day. I think I'm going to have to invest in my first ever umbrella - I never bothered back home because they always get blown inside-out and wrecked!I've just come back from a big walk down to Stanley Park and back. Wow. This really is a beautiful city! I have some great photos but as I'm not using my computer (I'm using a communal one in the apartment), I won't be able to share them just yet. The highlight of my day was a close encounter with a squirrel in the Park. It hopped right up to me! It was so cute! I know that any Canadians reading this will be like, 'A squirrel? So what?', but they're a novelty for Kiwis. Stanley Park was devastated by a windstorm recently which took out a lot of trees, and the whole park was closed for a time. But it was open today and the damage wasn't too obvious.It's turned into a lovely sunny day so I better get outside and enjoy it!See ya :-)
So I made it to Vancouver on Monday! It was wonderful to be picked up from the airport by Jacob and Natalia who had me to stay for the first two nights. I arrived around 6pm so we loaded my stuff into the car and then had a delicious dinner at a Cuban place on Commercial Dr in East Vancouver. They have been great with advice and transport!It has been a bit of a jet-lagged blur since Monday but I'm now typing from the 22nd floor of my new apartment in central downtown Vancouver! It has amazing views. I'll only stay here for a month but it seemed like a good way to buy some time while looking for something more permanent, and be centrally located while looking for work. My new roommates are a Canadian guy and a Kiwi couple - Kiwis are everywhere! They are all really nice but apparently I won't see much of them as they're not home often and/or work nights.Initial impressions of Vancouver? It's a beautiful city with lots going on, plenty of tall buildings but lots of trees and parks which make it nice and green, nice wide sidewalks, friendly people, and of course there's the stunning backdrop of the snow covered mountains. There is plenty of evidence of preparations for the 2010 Winter Olympics with lots of construction going on. I haven't explored much yet but am looking forward to getting to know the city.
My hostel on Granville St was on the fringe of the dodgy part of town. It's quite a contrast from the bustling downtown just a couple of blocks over. I wouldn't walk around there by myself at night. It is noticable that there are a lot of homeless and people begging in Vancouver and it will be interesting to see what happens with the Winter Olympics coming and the council wanting to clean up the streets.
Traffic driving on the right takes a bit of getting used to as a pedestrian and car passenger. I get nervous when crossing the street because I can never remember which way I'm supposed to look! No injuries yet though! Tipping and 1, 2, 5 and 25 cent coins are another thing that's different from home - I think people tip just so they can get rid of pocketsful of change!!Had coffee and a donut from Tim Horton's for breakfast this morning - there is one in the ground floor of the apartment building! And I've watched a couple of big ice hockey games already (it's the NHL playoffs(?) so everyone watches). So I'm quickly becoming assimilated into Canadian culture! :-)So that's what I've been up to so far. The job hunt starts tomorrow!
