The Big OE

It’s that time of year again, when the days have gotten shorter and cooler, there’s a chill in the air and the pull of the indoors grows stronger. This time last year I was road tripping through the heart of Fairytale country in Germany, this year I’m working like a maniac in one of North Americas most beautiful city’s; Vancouver. I’ve been here for four months now, and I’ve yet to slow down.

I've now moved into my new place and my new roomie Maia, a twenty year old Interior Design Student is really nice. I'm struggling at the moment to get adjusted to her schedule as she is a night owl, I'm the lightest sleeper in the world and I've turned into a nana lately as I'm usually in bed by 9.30 pm to get up at 5 to go to work - but we'll get there. The place is really nice, and although my room wasn't furnished I was super lucky to get a free bed off the internet. Craigslist - an internet based classified ads site which is huge here has a 'free listings' page and one day while on a break at work I found someone giving away a near new bed, and my boss told me to go get it immediately and take one of the vans and take one of the new guys I was training to help me move it. As I don't plan on being here long-term, I'd been putting off buying any furniture so this solution was ideal. Then because I've been so flat out at work, and hate shopping one of the managers at work offered to be my personal shopper and brought my Duvet, Sheets, Cover and Blankets for me - perfect!

One night while out with Jitka and Nic, we came up with the idea to have Thanksgiving Dinner at my place and invite those that had found themselves family-less at this time of year. I ordered an Organic Free Range Turkey from work, and managed to get one of the Chefs to make the stuffing for me. My first ever Turkey turned out fantastically, it was moist and full of flavour. I also made Candied Yams, which horrified the boys when they saw me putting marshmallows on them but turned out really good, and I cheated by buying a Pumpkin Pie. Jitka made the Mashed Potatos, and Michael carved the Turkey and made the Gravy. After Dinner we flopped in front of the couch, Michael treated us to neck massages and had a movie marathon that finally ended at 6 am - it was a really good night and was super relaxed.

For the past couple of weeks the Vancouver International Film Festival has been on, so I battled the queues and went with Nic to see 'Atonement' and 'Battle in Seattle' which both made me cry and were well worth watching, and Jitka and I went to see 'Jellyfish' a wacky Israeli film. It really surprised me how popular the festival was, as all three films were sold out theatres.

This weekend, I headed across the water to North Vancouver with Jitka and went to Capilano Suspension bridge, one of the major attractions in Vancouver. It was a beautiful day, and although we were both exhausted from a hard week at work, the fresh air and exercise walking around the canopy of a Rainforest on an elevated boardwalk and across the moving bridge was good for us. We took a bus, and missed our stop so got off at the Cleveland Dam (the town’s water reservoir) and were greeted with gorgeous views of Lake Capilano and the surrounding Mountains. We then headed back down the road and got off at the Capilano Salmon Hatchery. Not the most exciting place on the earth, but it was free and mildly educational. Hungry for Salmon Sashimi we headed back to Lonsdale Quay in North Vancouver, and soaked in the sights of Vancouver across the Harbour.

Apart from that it’s just been work, work and um….. more work. But now I’ve trained three new guys (two of which are Australian – us Australasia’s are taking over hehe) how to do a part of my job so at least there is the possibility I’m allowed to get sick now – heaven forbid.

The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirlwind of working twelve hour days, finding a new place to live, lots of dining out, movie watching and a random day of kayaking.

Deepcove

On one of the last weekends to enjoy some sun Jitka, Jenna and I jumped at our last chance to head over to Deepcove in North Vancouver for a spot of kayaking. It was a fantastic afternoon, and was over far too quickly. I'm thinking Im going to have to spend another summer here just to catch up on all the kayaking I missed out this last summer.

Jitka

Jitka and Jenna

And Jennas off!

I am really enjoying my new job, but am finding the hours quite intense at the moment. My body has adjusted to the 5 am wake ups, but Im turning into a real grandma at night. I haven't had the energy to cook properly or even go to the supermarket in weeks, so I've been dining out fairly regularly or simply not eating at all because I simply have no energy left. But don't worry, working for a catering company means I'm pretty well taken care of. Oh and after only two weeks on the new job I was given a pay raise! I don’t really have a clear role in the company, I’m more like a buffer, or the lubricant added to a pressure point. Where ever there’s a crunch point, or pressure spot I get chucked in and sort things out. I don’t really have a supervisor, so I don’t directly answer to anybody and am just left to get on with what I deem to be most important. It’s a very refreshing and good spot to be in. I don’t have someone constantly watching over me, Im just left to get on with things, and in their words they think the sun shines out my bum.

Dried Seaslugs in Chinatown

The company has a huge staff, and is largely male dominated - meaning its not somewhere you would last very long if you were super sensitive or very politically correct minded. But the energy, easy goingness and family spirit make it a fantastic place to work for me. I feel very anchored there, which is important when new to a city, I feel like I have a Mom and Dad there looking out for my well being, there is also annoying prank playing brothers, hilarious chatty gossipy sisters, random weird/goofy cousins and the occasional slightly dodgy uncle. So even if the hours are long, and hard - you still have a reason to keep getting up in the mornings.

Food Market in Chinatown

As I was only subletting my current place, my time has run out and I have since found a new apartment to live in, (three blocks away haha) and will be moving in tomorrow. It’s a really nice place, rooms a bit small but will be cosy in the winter. I managed to score a free (nearly new) double bed from jumping quickly on an ad I saw on a website, and my boss let me take one of the work vans to pick it up. I happened to be training a new driver at work that day, so he volunteered to help me move it - so I couldn't have struck it any luckier really. And after complaining that I didn’t have time or know where to go to buy bedding, one of the managers at work volunteered to be my own personal shopper, and is sorting out everything for me this weekend so I just show up on Monday and everything is ready to go. So you could say I’m being extremely well looked after here.

Mojito Night, Main Street - Nic and I

Next weekend I’m inviting all the random’s I’ve met in my few short months here and attempting to cook a Thanksgiving meal, for all those that are away from home. I’ve never cooked a turkey before - so ahh should be interesting. The Vancouver International Film Festival started a few days ago, so the next few weeks are going to be jam packed with foreign films, starting with ‘Atonement’ which I saw yesterday morning, and highly recommend. Oh and while I’m on films, Nic and I managed to score free tickets to a special screening of Good Luck Chuck a fortnight ago (just standing in the right place at the right time) and it was pretty much entirely filmed in Vancouver - so if you watch it, I’ve pretty much been to all those places and walk past those buildings most days.

Mojito Night, Main Street - Jitka and I

Im sorry if I’ve been useless at keeping in contact, I don’t have my own computer, I have very limited access to a computer at work, when I move I’m not going to have Internet at all, and no home phone just a cell phone. So until I can put enough money away for my own laptop, contact from me is going to be pretty intermittent but not impossible. I will still be checking email all the time, so if something comes up I can find a way to get in touch.

So now summer is over, fall has set in. The trees are changing, and the Halloween decorations are on sale and there is a distinct cold nip in the air.

Over the past month I've pretty much been swamped with work, but I have managed to fit in a few fun days and nights out, and I jumped at the chance to go exploring as often as I could. I've been getting familiar with some of the local restaurants (mostly so I didn't have to cook), and went to 'All you can eat Sushi' with Ayline, had a German brunch with Heike, somewhere in Richmond with Jessica, to a dinner party at Kristin’s and Nicks apartment and a Farewell dinner for Jörg (who returned to Austria).

Here is a bit of a photo montage to let you see what I've been up too (when I haven’t been stuffing my face).

Kitsilano beach

Ayline

English Bay

One day Ayline (my roommate) and I ventured over to Bowen Island (a 20 minute ferry ride from West Vancouver) and explored around Snug Cove. As we were on foot, we didn't venture far, but popped into a few shops and then settled down to a hearty lunch and a bottle of wine at a café right on the Marina. When it dawned on us, we'd been sitting there for well over two hours, a little light-headed we headed over to the Memorial park, and the causeway and did a spot of blackberry picking. Ayline’s a bit of a paparazzi with the camera at the best of times, so here’s a few shots of hers:

After six weeks of nonstop shows, mayhem, rainouts and fun we ended the TUTS season with a night out at an Italian restaurant and went on to a club where one of the drivers was a DJ.

Most of the TUTS crew

Jitka and Kristen

Nic and I

Not my finest hour

So I apologize for not keeping in touch as often as I should be, but as you can see I’m just having too much fun!

On a whim one day I visited a Tarot card reader on Granville Island in Vancouver, and she took one look at me and told me I wasn't 'anchored', and my brain was spinning around like a whirling dervish, full with too much thinking. I was drifting along, and because I didn't have my roots firmly attached to anything all my energy was being drained. I needed to get out of the city as fast as possible, and be close to the mountains or be surrounded by trees. I needed to regain my strength and clear my lungs of the toxic city air and chaos, and then I was free to be centered. Not one to believe in all that jazz usually, I didn’t think it sounded like too bad advice, and so that’s exactly what I did. As soon as I'd finished up with TUTS I was on a ferry to Vancouver Island, to the small costal town of Tofino.

I had been lucky enough to get the last bed in one of the hostels, and jumped on a bus for the 7 hour trip from Downtown Vancouver. The scenery flashing past my window on the bus, brought back memories from New Zealand, and if it wasn't for all the firs and cedars, it would be hard to tell the difference between the two. I arrived in Tofino, to pretty crappy weather, which seems to be my luck whenever I get time off but the peace, quiet and sheer beauty of the small town more than made up for it.

I spent the first day taking my time exploring the little shops, galleries, cafes and docks all along the water front. I sat in the 'Sea Shanty' restaurant watching all the seaplanes land and take off and slurped down delicious Clam Chowder, smug in the knowledge that I was finally on the real west coast. I decided this trip was about relaxing, and not worrying about stuff back in the city, which had really began to take its toll on me. I treated myself to a whale watching tour and the next morning I headed out into the fog and mist and was lucky enough to encounter a Gray Whale, a Humpback and a 'gang' of Orcas, including a Cow and her Calf.

The boat ride was extremely tedious, bumpy and nauseating. Luckily I'd opted for the popular Hot Springs Cove option and was dropped at the stunning Maquinna Marine Park. After a short walk through the rainforest, I quickly got changed and soaked in the natural hot springs, that were in a succession of pools, and worked its way down to the ocean. When the pools got too hot/crowded, I climbed over the rocks and perched myself on a flat rock to soak up the sun and was lucky enough to see a Humpback whale breach directly in front of me in the bay. Of course I didn't have my camera with me, and so it was just one of those moments that you just had to enjoy and reflect on just how lucky you were sometimes.

Following the "treating myself" theme, I went one step further and opted to be flown back to Tofino in a Seaplane and skip the boat ride home completely. The flight was over far to quickly, but was well worth it for a) the scenery but also b) to get off that damn boat. When I made it back to land I managed to find the only sushi restaurant in all of Tofino and sat on the back deck which had the most breathtaking views, and was a highlight of the trip - I would strongly recommend to all.

The next day I hired a bike and ventured out of town with Zuzz an Australian girl staying at the hostel, who worked at one of the offshore Salmon farms. We headed to the botanical gardens, where I had read a popular local spot for good food was based in a caravan there. After lunch we carried on biking, and headed to one of the beaches and took a few photos, before I had to head back to town where I'd booked myself an afternoon of kayaking around some islands. I got stuck in a double kayak with an elderly woman you hadn't a clue what to do, so I got drenched in the process, and worked twice as hard to keep us up with the rest of the group - but as it wasn't a race I just relaxed and went with it. We stopped often to look at some of the sea life, and were watched several times by bald eagles in their nests. It was a fantastic afternoon, and it had been something I'd wanted to do for a while.

Sad to leave my new sanctuary, I had to head back to Vancouver the next morning - ready to start my new job the following day. And after such a relaxing week and the long bus ride to Nanaimo, my brain had slowed right down and I was so engrossed in my book I missed my connecting bus to the Ferry terminal, and would have missed the ferry completely if I hadn't found a random taxi that was lurking around. As soon as I got back to Vancouver, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, it was straight back into life in the big city. I met up with Nic, and convinced him to see the 'Nanny Diaries' with me, afterwards we headed to the night market in Chinatown, and then strolled around downtown Vancouver for a few hours, taking in the lovely city views of the homeless, high class 'escorts', the all time Canadian favourite coffee shop 'Tim Hortons' and we got to fulfil my secret dream of getting a giant slushie from a 7/11 convenience store.

The cheese shot

So this past week I started my new job with the Catering company, which I'll fill you in on soon. For now look after yourselves, and don't stress the small stuff.

When I was originally looking for somewhere to live in Vancouver back in May, someone gave me the advice not to live on Main Street, because it was “a ghetto”, but after finding a great deal on a sublet for 4 months, I threw caution to the wind and ignored the well intended advice. Just as well I did, because I’ve been more than happy in my temporary home. The rents super cheap, I have a fully furnished room, its in a nice, clean, safe neighbourhood complete with community gardens on the street corners, and regular buses going by just a blocks walk away - I am one block off Main Street, and everything I need is under 2 minutes walk away. I am living in the suburb of Mt. Pleasant on a stretch known as lower SoMa or ‘South Main’ to the uninitiated, and its then further divided into a section known as Antique Row, where there is a cluster of little clothing boutiques, galleries, organic vendors, comic stores and trinket type shops. There is several coffee shops, countless restaurants and an amazing bagel shop, with famous cinnamon swirl buns. In my local Asian veggie store/superette, I have all that I need; everything from my staples of mushrooms and pasta to Milo (chocolate milk mix from down under), Spekulatius (German Christmas Cinnamon, Almond & Ginger Butter Cookies) and dried Spätzle (German noodle).

A few clicks away (Canadian slang for kilometres) is Little India, an area full of great curries and sari shops. In the other direction at the opposite end of Main Street, is Chinatown. Still thriving, even with the migration of most Chinese Immigrants to the nearby city of Richmond. There are claims you can buy buckets of live frogs, but I’m yet to see any. I’ve seen dried sea slugs, and all sorts of odd things from the bottom of the ocean floor, but they look more like something you’d leave at the bottom of a toilet than actually put in your mouth, still someone must be buying them.

Similar to other cities, Greater Vancouver has a large population of Immigrants, particularly Chinese and East Indians (they say East Indians to differentiate from Native Indians - me being as special as I am, asked “how on earth can you tell they came from the East of India??” But then again I’ve never had to refer to indigenous people as Indians before, Indians come from India - so there!). The Native Indians are known throughout Canada as 'First Nations' and aren't exactly well treated, but that’s a whole other issue I'll touch on one of these days.

It seems everyone’s from somewhere else here, and I'm yet to actually meet someone born and bred right here in Vancouver. There is still a lot of prejudice towards the Asian immigrants, and to a degree I can sympathize with their situation, I too moved to a foreign country with every intent of learning the language and integrating into the culture (ie. Germany) but when your only support network in your new country speaks your native language and you can’t easily communicate with the locals, you will most likely turn to what is familiar and easier. And its not like the Canadians have got wide open welcoming arms helping them integrate and teach them how to be Canadian. There’s no think, act, dress, eat like a Canadian classes.

At the end of Chinatown, where Main and Hastings streets meet is where Main street gets its bad reputation from. Its not a secret but Vancouver has the largest problem with homelessness, than the rest of the entire continent of North America. So Downtown Eastside is not somewhere you really want to frequent. Of course curiosity and my fascination with the downfall of society has gotten the best of me several times, and I have been down to the infamous stretch of western humanity in its lowest forms and wandered through the strung out addicts, prostitutes, drug dealers and the homeless. I’m sure my Grandmother would be horrified to discover I willingly put myself in that situation and not just once, but you know what (and perhaps I was just lucky) not one person ever bothered me, harassed me for money or gave me any grief. The experience left me extremely depressed and confused, how did the situation get so bad? Am I supposed to give that guy my loose change to buy food, or is it just going to go on crack? Can I live with myself when I constantly ignore these lost souls who desperately need help? The homeless people are everywhere, and they’re pretty hard to avoid; down alley ways, on the sidewalk, in closed shop doorways, under bridges and at bus stops. Vancouver has a milder climate so they all flock to the city and have more chance of surviving the harsh winters. The funding for many mental care facilities was cut back, so people who were in obvious need of psychiatric help were tossed out on to the street, and have no where to go or the ability to properly look after themselves. Recycling centres are hives of activities where people can get money for cans, cigarette butts and pieces of metal. I did hear a rumour the Olympics organisers are planning to ship a lot of them over to Vancouver Island before 2010 in a bid to tidy the city up, but we shall just have to wait and see.

Vancouver itself is a beautiful city, but its actually quite small. The greater Vancouver area has been split up into several cities and things can get a little confusing for example there is a West Vancouver, a Westend and a Westside. Downtown Vancouver is pretty compact and easy to get around, well serviced by public transport, with buses, ferries, seabuses and the skytrain running regularly. I don’t think Vancouver will ever be known for its pumping nightlife or great shopping, but its bursting at the seams with great funky restaurants, galleries and boutiques, its pretty and close to all the outdoor activities you can dream of. There’s beaches, parks, ski fields, forests, islands and mountains to explore within minutes of the city. Its pretty difficult not to get swept up in the energy of it all. Vancouverites are a pretty active, healthy, green conscious lot and I don't mind sticking around to explore some more of this impressive city.