a foreigner in my own country
1:32 a.m.
that was how i felt last night. not necessarily because i'm in such a strange city like vancouver. but rather, more because i was surrounded by non-canadians. i guess when you are in a different country, you gravitate towards others sharing your experience - ie other foreigners. and since im staying with jd, an aussie, i was bound to encounter more of the same. or at least, less of the canadian.
so we went to a bbq goodbye party last night. and yeah, i felt like a minority there. also not cuz i'm asian. although i do believe i was the only asian there. but yeah, cuz there were no other canadians. i feel incredibly redundant right now. but it was an odd feeling, cuz although i was in a new town, it was still my country.
most of the people were from the uk or europe way more generally. and considering i had never been to the continent, it was hard to find a way to relate.
hm. i also feel like i'm sounding like a big baby about this.
i dunno. i guess when i'm in a new place, i try to experience life as non-touristy as possible. i like living like a local.
but since i'm been here - yes, all the two days that i've been here - i don't think i have had an exchange with a true vancouverite.
my first night i caught up with kate from high school and we went for sushi with some of her friends. i thought this would be my chance to get some local insights to the city.
instead, i got all toronto all the time. actually, this was probably the highest concentration of torontonians i hung out with since high school. these people all went to high school around me, and knew plenty of the same people. very weird. well, unexpected rather.
so hey, i guess i went from 2 extremes -- feeling all toooo familiar with my torontonian folk. and then feeling way outta place among these ex-pats.
also, with these ex-pats, what was weird about them was that they were all old and settled. not like 50s old. but old enough to be married. early 30s i reckon. now that i think about it, that's probably the reason i felt so out of place - the inability to relate to married folk. whatever.
but we were rid of most of those by the time the bbq was over and we decided to go out. and we went to lola's, which i was told would be like dance cavey.
although i've never been to the place, after seeing lola's, i would liken it more to the brunny. too much grinding. not enough bouncy dancing.
that being said, it was slim pickens there. very very few boys i was keen on. and when i say boys, i mean it. these were fresh out of the high school womb. almost ready to enter the world of higher education.
and while i like younger boys, this was not my scene. too fratty. not enough edge.
also felt way more sober than a lot of the people there. which always brings me down as i feel like i can never get to the ideal level at which i just don't give a shit about what happens. oh well.
the walk home was interesting too. walking with jd's roomie, getting accosted - i mean approached - by some other bar patrons. boys are silly. it was actually interesting being sober enough, having been able to discern the game level that these neophytes had. after all, thus far they've only dealt with high school chicks, who, if i remember correctly, are pretty easy to begin with.
so see them run their mediocre game, it was clear how amateurish they were. an interesting to see how a semester away from home would improve that situation. for better or for worse.
actually met a dude from socal who warned me against l.a... he was an orange county boy, born in la. suggested i should have gone to berkeley, or at least somewhere in north cali. whatever. i can see where he's coming from, but either way. lucky dude had canadian, british and american passports. i totally thought you could get 2 max. whatever.
wait, damn. i shouldve asked that kid to marry me. then i'd be set for life with american and british citizenship (the latter way less important but still a good bonus).
the kid also went to school with some of the laguna beach kids, and knew shane from the real housewives of orange county. apparently shane the stud, who can get any chick he wants, is banging a bigger girl. maybe there is hope.
so yeah, an interesting evening. wish i had a better adjective for it.
tonight is my last night at jd's, and then i'll be staying with hannah for a couple and then an aussie house on the drive, before my mom gets here.
i wonder what i'm gonna do with the rest of my time?
naturey shit i guess.
