Shows, snapple, showers, schnitzel and sun

So after last weeks utter confusion over what to do, and after much agonizing and discussion, I have made the decision to stick with the catering company I am currently working for. Having the option of two fantastic company’s wanting you to work for them in equally great jobs, is a fantastic situation to be in - but it’s a nightmare to choose which is the right choice. Thankfully the other company, although disappointed I haven’t gone with them, have left their offer open if things don’t work out - so things couldn’t have gone any better in my favor.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been working flat out and haven’t been getting out as much as I’d like to. Well considering I’ve had two days off in the past 18, and those two days were filled with heavy rain, no wonder I haven’t had much time to explore. Because of the heavy rain last week, several shows were cancelled (I’m working at ‘Theatre under the Stars’ in downtown Vancouver) but I still had to come in, because they don’t make the cancellation call until just prior to the show starting. Several times they’ve continued on, in what I would have called ‘a heavy downpour’, but these Vancouverites are used to the rain, and just get on with it. We also had major problems with the food tents, and water pooling and threatening to burst the seams of the tent roofs. So up on a ladder in the pouring rain, trying to suck the water through a hose, and syphon the water out is not my ideal job - but someone’s got to do it. There’s been a few niggling staffing issues, that came to ahead last night with interesting outcomes, but for the most part I have a really excellent team and we get on really well. We’re an International lot, with a couple of Australians, a Czech, Brazilian, Korean, several Canadians (from the West, Middle and the East) and me a Kiwi. They’re all pretty used to my ‘kiwi’isms now and I no longer have to explain what I want them to do when I ask them to “Get the Chilly Bin”, “Pass me the pen” and “Put this in the bin”.

Look at me I'm Sandra Dee - Grease

Some of the random observations I’ve made about Canadians so far, is that when they order they always use the brands name, instead of its generic name. Its always “Snapple” instead of just Ice Tea, “Bargs” instead of Root Beer, “Miss Vickys” instead of Chips. When they discuss money they refer to their $1 and $2 coins as loonies and toonies, and I’ve never seen a 50 cent coin even though they exist, they somehow prefer quarters. They’re generally a pretty happy lot of customers, very serious about their recycling and the biggest surprise to me was how dedicated some of the theatre goers were, in that when the heavens opened and rain bucketed down on them, only a few left, with the rest remaining in white ku klux klan like rain ponchos.

My new French roommate Ayline and I get on really well, and have a similar sense of humour. She is the stereotypical French artist, complete with two lovers (I kid you not). She has dark raven hair, a wicked creativity streak, an exotic imagination and her days are filled with coffee, the occasional cigarette, trips to her temporary art studio and the beach. She is only spending a few months in Vancouver, and then will return to France in the fall where she has several exhibitions on the go.

Nicole, Heather, Joerg and Dan

One of the nights the show got cancelled my mate Jessica and I headed out for an impromptu dinner in Richmond, another city in the Greater Vancouver area. Was good to have some silly girly talk catch up time. I’ve also managed to met up with Heike (a friend from couchsurfing) several times, in the last week or so. She’s German, but has lived in NZ before (and I swear she has more of a Kiwi accent than I do) and now obviously living in Vancouver - so we have a lot in common. On Tuesday night, I left work early, and took the seabus across the bay to North Vancouver, where a group of around 25 other local couchsurfers met up at a Schnitzel Haus. As there are so many Germans and an Austrian in the group, it was only a matter of time till our need for Schnitzel and Spätzle got the better of us. Although it wasn’t the best German fare I’ve ever had, I wasn’t complaining. It was good to get out and catch up with everyone again, and listen to people speaking German again. I kind of missed piecing together what I thought people were saying, with the random German words I knew.

Hmm so yeah, that’s my current update. Everything is going well, the suns out and Vancouver’s looking mighty impressive. I’ve been trying to get to work earlier, as its in a massive park at the end of Downtown, and I like to walk around for a while, or just lie under a tree as its just stunning at the moment.