so i am home. well, back in toronto. which i will only consider home for 2ish more months. irregardless... i'm back from vancouver. and, well, i will admit it's nice to be in toronto again.
when i booked my ticket to vancouver, i had it in mind as an option number 3 (after l.a., and sydney). so when i went there to check it out for my first time, i wanted to see what it was like being a local there, and as such i limited my touristy activities and focused more on daily life. staying with hannah was interesting insight, as she is not working currently. life seemed pretty cruisy.
i did get a chance to stay at the zazz house before my mom came. also insightful. less so about living in van, more about couchsurfing with a group.
rad group of people. but it prob woulda been easier to bond with them had they been less insular, or had i had another friend with me to make me feel less left out. they were really cool though, if i was staying an extra day, it prob woulda felt more bondingly.
they were also there as travellers, rather than as people settling in the city. im not sure if van was particularly homey for any of them, it mostly felt like a stop along the way. so it was not so easy for me to feel like van had any more home potential. especiallly when i look at people i know who have moved there from toronto after school. they eventually boomerang back. so... i'm kind of finding this new appreication for toronto. i knew i always loved it and was fortunate to grow up here. and while i am more than set to leave, it will always be a place i will hold close to my heart.
alright. less mushy city sentiment, more vancouver stories.
so when i got to the zazz house, i dropped my stuff off, had quick intros before heading down the drive.
the drive is a charming place, probably where i felt the most at home in all of vancouver. much moreso than kits. even though kits was also beautiful. got to catch up on some reading, good people watching, and sampling the sushi deals there. there are plenty of cheap sushi places there, for which i am grateful. but nothing is up to sushi on bloor standards. with only one exception - toyo sushi at cambie and fourth. their spicy tuny and spicy salmon salads are amazing, and less than $5!!!! if i could, i would sub those salads in instead of bloor's seafood salad. however, there were no decent cheap maki selections. everything was pretty average.
after some wandering, vintage window shopping, and park reading, i headed back to the zazz house and hung out. listen to them jam on the geetar. had an interesting encounter with their landlord, whom they affectionately call sri leahy, and then we got to partying. very chill.
i guess i am a party tourist. i travel to find new places and people to drink with.
oh man. jetlag is kicking my ass HARD. i dont think i can effectively add anything more to this post.
ok. next time
after practically od'ing on benadryl, i was pretty much decent enough to endure touristy vancouver with the mother, and so we did. having purchased the bridge to peak trip a day earlier, i didn't much have a choice, unless i wanted to waste $70 of my mom's money.
now, i always thought van was warmer than toronto in general. after all, the pacific ocean is right there and i'm sure that contributes to their temperate climate. and technically, it's still summer so the warmest clothing i brought was a knit cardigan.
unfortunately, i think weird weather took a vacation and followed me to van as well, because my last days of the trip were COLD. i mean, it was rainy (yuck) and in the city it averaged 18 degrees, on the mountains it was like 12! unacceptable.
i normally go a little more south at this time of year - to cali to visit the mom. and i am used to basking in the hot rays of the sun, enjoying the dying days of summer. but since we decided to meet somewhere in between, and experience this part of our own country that we'd never been to before, we got a premature sneak peak at winter. i don't dig it.
it kind of limited our touristability too. when we went to capilano it was raining, so wandering around paths and suspension bridges in the air was not the safest thing. and when we got up to grouse, it was foggier than san fran. we couldnt really enjoy the gondola ride up. so to buy some time, we ate at one of the restos at the chalet and fortunately it cleared up in time for us to get some good viewage.
we also got to see adopted grizzly bears, which were so adorable. and we watched this movie about a bird over vancouv. it was kinda poorly done, but whatever. and we were able to catch the lumberjack show, which sounded super lame when the travel agent recommended it, but was actually very entaining.
there were still a couple things i wanted to do, but with time constraints relating to the gondola sched, and our tour operating times, it was hard to fit it in, so our tour ended there. on our way back to the city, we had a different tour guide who was able to enlighten us a little more on van. he discussed the film industry there and the population density. and at first, me with my toronto-centric leanings, called bullshit on him saying van had the biggest film industry in canada and was the most densely populated downtown core with the most expensive neighbourhood to live in in canada. naturally, i thought these titles all belonged to toronto. esp the pop dens one, cuz we've got tons of condos in our dt core, one pops up ever minute. but upon googling, my previous beliefs were shattered. i was in gobsmacked. it was like all the truths i had known before were all a lie.
i can't talk about this anymore. it still hurts.
to revert to denial about my city not boasting these superlatives, i hung out with a fellow torontonian in the eve - jen, who just moved to van for grad school. we hung out on the drive again, which was rad because she had never been there before, and it was like evenly in the middle between us. we went to the same bar that samantha the cs host worked at that i went to with them. wazubee i think it's called. it's got a green room vibe. except for with a dj strangely enough. every other bar on the drive was hoppin, which was awesome. but lacking seats, which was less awesome. so wazubee was a good mixture of chill vibe, busy, but with seatage. and affordable drinks and fries.
it was a great catchup, we never had one-on-one hangouts back home, but it wasn't awk or anything. it was nice seeing her perspective on boys, and discussing the theatre scene. it was also nice to have a break from my mom. we were both fatigued though from jetlag, and allergy meds. and with beer thrown into the mix, it wasn't conducive to a big night. i don't know why i didn't think to contact rach and the zazz house as i was right in their hood. i guess i was concerned bout getting home safely. but anyway. yeah, we parted ways and i headed back to sketch central to catch a bus stop to head back to sketch suburb, aka our hotel hood.
made it home alright for my last night in vancouver.
alright. let's get back on this.
so after zazzing it out, i spent the rest of my time with my mom who flew into vancouver on her bday. some family oriented stuff for the remainder of my trip. as well as a way to finance the activities. very important as i had run out of the cash my aunt gave to me before i left, and wasn't sure of my debit balance cuz my rent was to be taken out. i have had cheques bounce before, which is such a bitch, so i didn't want to risk that.
anyway, the first day we wandered around downtown. my mom is like me, we like busy urban areas, and we like experiencing them by walking around rather than having a guide tell us what's up. it is pretty impressive how oriented i got after a few days of walking round. i am a human gps system.
the grid downtown is on the diagonal, so you rarely just walk n-s or w-e but we managed, and i showed my mom the burrard street bridge.
her second day was less than spectacular. mainly because i was sick. mega congested. and very weak feeling. we tried walking to granville island (as it is not actually an island), but i guess my human gps was off due to my sickness, so we never actually made it. instead, we walked up to the tourism office and my mom booked a tour for the next day for capilano and grouse. i really wanted to do nature shit, but not quite in the touristy way. but because i was feeling less than stellar, i was not going to argue.
in the eve, my mom got me some benedryl while i took a nap, and then i was much better, although drowsy. once i was in better shape, we headed to the drive for dinner. i was eyeing the poutine at belgian fries, but unfortunately, they were less than spectacular. i should know better than to order poutine somewhere other than quebec. although the poutinerie does a decent job.
regardless... they also charged for mayo here. uncool. it was a cool vibe, but outside of that the food was nothing spesh.
my mom went for her dinner at an ethiopian resto down the drive, her first time eating the cuisine, so it was nice that i could teach her how to do it. she didn't much care for the injera, and debated about asking for a fork, but i told her to embrace it and she complied. it was good times, but i was too full.
we tried checking out the chinatown night markets that happen on the weekend nights. but i guess it took too long for me to recover and have dinner, because by the time we got to chitown, it was a ghosttown.
that is, till we got to hastings. at which point it became bumtown.
my mom had to go to the bathroom at the closes bar, which seemed to house the native population of the city. funny experience seeing my mom awkwardly open the door of someone on the toilet.
what a sketchy, sketchy area. now i know toronto has its seedy parts, but i never feel as weirded out as i did when i was there. it felt good to get back home to our hotel, the journey to which was also questionable at best.
this will teach you to trust other traveller's reviews... our hotel was not in a central location at all. but we made the most of it, taking the skytrain and the 99 bus for free. the novelty of the honour system will never wear off.
yesterday was quite a lovely day with my new host hannah.
we were supposed to go to lynn canyon, but her friend that she was gonna go with had a big night the night before, so he was delayed in getting his day started.
i'm kind of glad, because it meant that i got to experience wreck beach.
i think when i was talking to my co-workers about my trip, jason told me to check it out. most likely in jest. but it was definitely an awesome cultural experience.
although i did not parttake in the nudity, i got to appreciate a lot of it. and kind of felt in very odd being so clothed in my swimmies.
after a trek through ubc campus and a long walk down the stairs, we arrived at wreck beach. plenty of breasts and penises in view. no modesty in sight. it was great.
what was also awesome was the beach vendors.
not the ones with huts away from the water.
i'm talking about the naked passersby that sold anything from coolers, beer, cider, mushrooms, marijuana, empanadas, spinach burritos, margaritas, mojitos, caesars, organic soft drinks, and homemade organic truffles. all about $5.
one stop shopping. while i did not exchange in this market, i got to try some of hannah's truffle. it was pretty delish. and the dude gave us a quick chat too.
some of her friends came down with guitars and other fun instruments. and after a skinny dip, they jammed in the nude. and it was totally rad. apart from like san fran, i can't think of many places where this would be a completely normal thing.
in the evening we made dinner with some of her friends and their guests from the states. another novel experience for me! considering kitchens are places i rarely visit. and it was fully vegan and yummy. i think i can teach myself to appreciate less unhealthy foods. with a smaller eco footprint.
we also went to the bar down the street and played existential king's cup. there was no kings cup. and there were no cards. you just picked someone at random and whatever card they were thinking of is the card you drew. pretty good times. and the pitchers were pretty cheap. all in all, my kind of fun.
hannah was also very sweet to take a painting for me. of a sailboat. i've always wanted one of a ship. and now this one has a great story behind it too.
today was much more of a lazy day. we took blue, her dog, down to the water for a walk. it was rather slippery and fall-conducive. but we survived and i learned much about the vancouver's watery ecosystem. we also prepared her compost box for the worms to arrive, and then transferred the worms and organic waste in and waited for magic to happen. i also walked around china town and had some sushi. and we made vegan chocochip oatmeal cookies. banana was used to bind. and it really added a lot to the choco taste. i'm beginning to rethink my eating habits hard.
i considered maybe if i fell in love with van, it would be my plan c. after cali and oz. while i am having a lovely time here, it doesn't scream home to me yet. so we'll see if i will re-evaluate that decision. there are plenty more places for me to discover before i figure out where i should settle. perhaps i will fall into the english teaching trap and suspend my youth forever. but i've still got my sights set on usc. only a few more weeks till i discover my fate! crazy that a previous cs episode with josh and michael really turned me onto l.a. ...i mean, i already knew i wanted to be there. but that experience really made me feel like i could make some solid friends and have a great young but productive experience. i can only imagine how my path may have differed had i surfed with some other people... best not to think about it.
in other news, i was supposed to stay with some kiwis and aussies tomorrow but i have yet to hear from them. so we'll see. and then my mom comes, and the touristy stuff will begin. should be interesting.
sunday was quite a lazy sunday. and while that may seem like a waste of time on vacation, that's how i roll. i like a relaxed itinerary, and was able to appreciate some smaller, but still key elements about being in van.
for example, reading coupland.
i brought this book on a last minute decision. i imagine i was already out the door, when i decided to ditch a heavier book for this one. i was also going to bring the gum thief, which i had bought not a week ago for vacation time (totally disregarding that coupland is from vancouver), but because it was hardcover, i opted for life after god. and that was a good idea.
spending a few hours on the rocks at volunteer park, south of 4th and macdonald was the perfect place to read this book. i always knew it before, but coupland is highly vancouver-centric. and while i have read a few of his books, having read this one at this place and time made it mean so much more to me. the subtle references and allusions... i get the subtext now. and it was actually really cool to see that.
i had bought the book in september of last year (i know this because the receipt was in it). and it's a fairly easy read, the closest thing you could get to a picture book for adults. so when i first got it, i probably got to about page 100 and still didnt get what was going on.
but this time, after being familiar with all the vancouver references, the picture was clearer. and it made me consider re-reading all the other books of his i've read.
weird, i just realize i read him lots on vacation. i think i brought gen-x to oz, eleanore rigby to cali, and life after god to van. were it not for a grade 9 project that had me reading girlfriend in a coma to create a verbal visual essay for english, i may have never discovered coupland. but yeah, with this new perspective, it may be worth re-reading the others...
i also imagine, if i wrote novels i would be sorta couplandy. not exactly in theme or style. but for the very fact that my upbringing in toronto is a huge part of who i am, whether i like it or not. i do have an incredibly strong toronto-centric point of view.
sitting on those rocks yesterday, i almost wished there was a douglas coupland tour of vancouver you could take.
it was cool too, his character was based in kits, and since i'm spending a great majority of my trip here, it was pretty cool to get what that was all about. i kind of imagined coupland to be that kind of guy. except for in toronto, i would place him in kensington, but more realistically in the annex.
today i'm off to lynn canyon, so let's see how that will enrich my experience here!
