this maybe a bit big. take a few days reading. I don't mind!
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I was going to write a few emails to each of you, but that is just going to take forever. So instead you get this.
until I get that blog setup. which will be when I get a laptop. oh crap, library is closing in 40mins (yes, I'm in the Vancouver public library).
right...
WEEK1 of Vancouver!
umm. ok. I will just start from the beginning.
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day1 (wed 11th)
Wisbech: wake up, put luggage in car, to Heathrow. make sure everything I need I have, and have done. check.
in car: get the feeling that we may be late.
Heathrow: Yep, late. Check in closes an hour before flight. we were there half an hour before, so pay an extra 50pounds to take next flight. Fun times. I blame my dad for his thought (which he told to me and mum),
'... as there was only one person flying, I thought that we could leave later.'
Yes. That worked out well, thanks dad!
anywho.
didn't miss the next plane.
Got onto plane, and halfway through watching 'The National Treasure: Book of secrets', a realisation crosses my mind.
How do I get to the youth hostel I booked when I land?
urm, yea, not the best thought ever, but I came up with a solution. one: don't panic!, two: watch another film (I am legend - great film), three: remember that I know where the SWAP office is (SWAP are the Canadian organisation that works with BUNAC, who are the people that I came here with).
Anyway, got to Vancouver airport.
I have to say, it is not like any other airport, it's full of plants and water features. Very nice, if a bit unexpected. The airport officials are also very friendly. The only odd thing was that we were made to take our shoes of so that they could be xrayed.
cab: took the cab to the SWAP office. the cab driver, umm, he was interesting, a lil racist to the Chinese drivers, but still, ok! and friendly, and really liked me. that cheered me up a bit talking to him, as you know. 'late flight' and 'dunno where to go' does not make for a happy dyl! The weather was dark and not sunny.
"Wang On Blinds", a shop that I saw on the way to downtown from the airport.The SWAP ladies (as they shall be known henceforth) were cool. and gave me accurate descriptions for the bus to the hostel. One problem though. She told me the wrong side for the bus stop! That was easily figured out. no problems.
bus: the driver was not helpful. I asked him to tell me when to get off the bus (as all the drivers here are friendly, just not this one), and he said, listen to the announcements. Well I didn't care much as I didn't actually pay for the bus, just walked on and showed some paper that he must have thought was a monthly pass.
hostel: The desk people here were nice and funny. Not bad at faking an English accent either.
met a really friendly 'Scottish lass' here at the hostel! She showed me around the beach (as she has actually been studying here this year), and the view of downtown from there at night was amazing.
Never met her again, but as a 3hour friend after a pretty sucky day, she did good.
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day2 and 3 kinda
Went to orientation meeting with other swappers. Here it was discovered that they were mostly Irish. As in real Irish not the northern kind. Made friends with some Irish guys, and some English people that actually know where Wisbech is! At the end of the meeting I knew where not to go - East downtown, where no to live/stay - East downtown, and what to do -stay away from east downtown! OK, that and setting up bank accounts, phones, jobs etc. By the end of the day bought a phone. You can set up the number here to have the last 4 numbers as you want. So mine ends in 395. Got a bank account setup on that day. My bank lady was fun (she's old enough to be my aunt apparently but never did say her age), she liked stickers, and put some on my bank card (as they don't have names, and so these stickers identifies it as mine). I also asked for more for my luggage. She obliged. Anywho, cashed in travellers checks the next day and she showed me a Korean place to eat for lunch (she is Korean) with another random person that had also just moved to Vancouver... It was really tasty.
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day 3 and the rest... lots of grr-ing and woo-ing.
On this day I also thought I had found the laptop I wanted (a cheap-o internet laptop... ie old and cheap). This however, was good and cheap (found through 'craigslist' on the web), $150. Unfortunately, it was bought by someone else before I bought it.
This pattern, of so close to getting something, then it disappearing at the last minute is a theme for me recently.
It was true with that laptop. I also found another laptop, and a place to sublet on the same day. But I had to go far for the laptop. Looked at the house first, by the time I looked at that, the laptop had already gone.
oh the house. I have learned a lesson from that place.
The lesson is this. If you find a place, that is near the beach, and has a nice housemate; just because it is the first house you look at, don't say, you'll decide soon whether to stay there! Especially, when you meet the person who's room you are taking over on the bus the next day, and she asks 'Yea, jess (the housemate) doesn't like the other people that looked today, but thinks your great. In fact, we can stop looking if you say you want the place.'
again, I said, i wanted to look at other places first before I decided.
OH MY GOD I'M DUMB!
I realised that a day later, told them that I wanted to stay with them. They were happy, but then I got a call the next day. Apparently Jess's friend came over and needed a place to stay. Jess decided that she couldn't let her friend down and so I did not get the place.
grr! However, I still have her number, and we are going to be friends, woo! she said she'd take me to a salsa place.
... well supposedly. I tried to contact her today. no response. maybe she LIED! will update you on that sometime.
urmm... yea
The hostel. First few days were spent: outside at night, eating food, drinking 'dude beer' with the associated jokes that come with drinking a drink with such a name, and meeting random foreigners.
most are on world trips. Some are here for a holiday, and a few are here to find work. Mostly german and aussies. Oh and New Zelanders, but you call them aussies to annoy them anyway.
Oh and a few brits, americans & irish.
ok. What else.
JET LAG: I almost countered this by napping a little on the plane, but I think I miss calculated. That or my body wanted to annoy me. I ended up waking up at 5 in the morning! The second day this happened, I thought, right then. I will try this thing people call 'jogging', I'm by the beach, why not? So, I decided to jog in one direction along the beach for 30mins, the 30mins back the other way.
What actually happened was for 30mins I jogged one way, while stopping every 5-10mins to take pictures, then did some tai-chi/karate on the beach, just because. Then jogged back... with some mini breaks.
The view of downtown in the morning (stapled a few pics together)Then by night, like 10, I wanted to sleep. Which was annoying, as people were going downtown to the clubs.
The next day (Saturday), I did the same, just less jogging, more tai chi. And that was the last time I did either!
What I did do that day however was take drastic action to no longer get up so ridiculously early. I first took a 2hour nap then, I went out to The Roxy club in downtown with a new yorker that likes coming back to vancouver (he also is in the housing businesses that has places here). It was a good night. Live music, by a bad doing AC/DC type music and other classic rock. The frontman was an amazing singer though. They also did coldplay at the end of their set. 'Tis was good too.
Now the first thing that is noticed about vancouver is that there are many good looking girls! No seriously, even my uncle that lives in greater vancouver says so. Anyway, Roxy is a place where alot of them end up, and more surprisingly, even though my new york friend 'lincon' warned me beforehand, the roxy had a higher proportion of girls to guys, and everybody mixes really well, saying hi to random people. It is very different to a club in the uk (well ones I've been to with live bands, etc). Ok, enough of that.
Yes, so club finished 3-ish and we had pizza, with an amazing garlic sauce/dip thing and talked ages. 4 o'clock and decided to take a night bus I had heard about.
So we sat there talking, and then it became apparent that these night buses do not exist after 3, or at least after 4. But it was about half 5 by then. So I wasn't going to get a cab, I had sat there long enough! I could have actually walked back in that time! Anywho, got early bus eventually. and got back to hostel at about 7. So I decided to stay awake and not sleep! Hello sunday, I haven't slept.
Also, on this sunday, I was going to see an aunty and uncle that live in greater vancouver (By aunty and uncle what I actually mean is family friends that we call aunty and uncle). I decided that meeting them very sleepy was not a good idea. So I had 2 hour nap before seeing them.
They were very nice, even picked me up from the beach, Oh and my aunty made great sri lankan food!
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the rest of the time here has been spent finding a place to live, a job to live of, and a laptop to tell you guys about the life I live. --> concludes in second email (week 2)
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