The limitations of guide books and maps

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!