Notes from Vancouver

What is it about getting old that makes you scared? When I was getting off the plane in Vancouver, I had a brief moment of panic wherein I was thinking, “Oh my god, I’m all alone in a foreign country where I don’t know anyone and omigodomigodomigod….” But then I was walking through the ultra-cool Vancouver airport and it immediately changed to oh, “Oh cool, I’m in a new city in a foreign country, how exciting omigodomigodomigod…”

So it turns out that I arrived in Vancouver on Canada Day! Woo-hoo! Totally unplanned, but a nice surprise. However, I didn’t see a single store or business promoting it as “Canaday” – which just goes to show that this country still lags far behind the U.S. in smarmy marketing concepts!

So there!

This is indeed a beautiful city; interesting to discover today it’s only 180 some odd years old – and I thought that the U.S. was a baby historically!

I forgot how cool it is to stay in a hostel – at least when travelling internationally. I mean, yeah, there’s the downsides like sharing a room with strangers (also a pro), getting paired with folks with different sleep patterns leading to disruption, etc.

But on the plus side, you meet lots of cool people from all over the world, there’s a much cooler “vibe” and sense of community amongst the guests, etc. My first night I had two German guys and a guy from Egypt in my room. Today I’ve got a guy from Japan and another one from Thailand. On the hostel-coordinated tour I went on yesterday, there were folks from Australia, England, Holland, Germany, and another American (Ohio).

The communal breakfasts have been particularly amusing what with the World Cup going on. Lots of guys getting excited yesterday when Holland upset Brazil. Hopefully, I’ll remember to ask one of the Dutch folks why it is that their country is called either Holland or The Netherlands, and yet the people are Dutch. Does anyone know this already? As a History major, I should, but…

A nice thing about being from San Francisco: I don’t get the blank look in response and have to explain where it is. The girl from Ohio yesterday, who now lives in Tennessee, had to explain to everyone that Ohio and Tennessee are states in the U.S. just like California, New York, or Texas, and that even though they’re relatively close (Ohio and Tennessee, that is), the towns she has lived in are more than 500 miles apart. Of course, in Canada, they have a greater awareness and understanding of what it’s like to live in a huge country.

Speaking of SF, Vancouver is very similar (no wonder I like it): striking natural setting, beautiful cityscape surrounded by water, bridges (not as cool, of course) connecting to other areas, fantastic natural beauty (e.g., forests) just a short drive away, tremendous diversity, nice weather (okay, a bit wet here), and of course expensive (you get what you pay for!). The both even have transit lines ending in Richmond. Weird.

Wow, no one here knows how to spell center! They all spell it “Centre” (ignorant, yet condescending, American chuckle).

Ha, the guy working the Hostel desk tonight looks like Vincent or whatever that other forensics guy’s name is on “Dexter.”

It’s amazing and depressing how long everyone outside of the U.S. gets to travel! When I tell people I’m “on holiday” for just a week they look at me in shock and pity. Most folks are travelling for at least a month, many for 3-4 months. And not just the college kids, either. Sigh. More than one person is traveling for a YEAR. A year! If only.

Fun facts about Vancouver: It is consistently rated at the top of lists for “The Most Livable City in the World” (I was unsurprised to see Vienna on the list, too – I wish I could afford to live there!). Check out wiki on this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World%27s_most_livable_cities

BTW, the U.N. consistently declares Canada as “The best country in the world to live in.”

Conde Nast recently chose Vancouver as the best travel destination in “All the Americas” (not only surpassing all U.S. cities but even all the cities in Colombia and Nicaragua! WOW!)

The Vancouver airport is among the top 10 in the world (I have to say it is, indeed, awesome!).

Vancouver is nicknamed “Hollywood North” as more movies are filmed here than anywhere in the world after L.A. and NYC.

Finally, the province of British Columbia is HUGE – you could fit all of England, France, Switzerland, Ireland, Holland, Belgium, and Denmark in it and even then it’s only a small fraction of this massive country.

So I was eating dinner with a mixed group last night (including these 2 Dutch boys that eat two HUGE plates of spaghetti, each, every night), and one of the guys says he has to use the “Lokum” so then we got in a discussion of the various slang terms for the restroom. I actually had people write them down coz I’d never heard many of them: Bog, The Dunny, Clo, Le Petit Coin, Les Chioties, Chee Saw, Xi-Sho-Jian, O-Ben-Jo, W.C., The Loo, and Retrete. My favorite is still “The Happy Room” from my trip to China.

My GAWD, but German is a harsh, inelegant language! (not that English is that pretty, mind you – but of course it’s a Germanic language).

My last day in town was absolutely beautiful. If the weather had been like this during the whole trip, I might have been tempted to move up there. But I’m still happy to be back in SF. Yay, me!