Coming to Vancouver

Where to start? Although as I write this post we're already a couple of weeks in, I think it's best to go back to the beginning!

I'll admit there were a few tears as we took off from Brisbane (domestic - ugh!) and a few more when we left Sydney International Airport but after the flight took off I was fine. It was really nice to have our families there to say goodbye and so nice to have Andy and Kate there too (thanks guys!). Steven also surprised me with business class seats to Sydney which was awesome but initially lost on me, being overwhelmed with everything else!



Business class to Sydney. Woohoo!

We arrived in Vancouver on March 30 at 7.30am (back in time - woohoo!) and after a 14 hour flight we couldn't wait to get off the plane. I thought I would be physically ill if the trip was any longer! Getting our working holiday visas approved was much easier than anticipated and the immigration officers never even looked at any of our documentation apart from the confirmation letter that was emailed to us. Nevermind. Better to be overprepared!

We spent our first three days at the Coal Coast Harbour Hotel in downtown Vancouver which was a great hotel and very close to the Pacific Centre (great shopping - bonus for me) so we spent those first few days organising mobiles and social insurance numbers (similar to a tax file number). We've yet to sort out bank accounts which is something for tomorrow I'm sure.

Kristen and Alex have been doing a fantastic job looking after us and making us feel very welcome even though the weather has not! For the first couple of days we harrassed Kristen at her work, asking her questions about which mobile plans to sign up to, where to go for this and that. She has been exceptionally patient with us! Her workmate Sarah even invited us to her place for dinner on our first Sunday night. They made us feel very 'at home' serving lamb roast. Numerous bottles of red wine may or may not have also been consumed (it was cold!).

Sibling reunion at Wings (the restaurant).

Unfortunately this great night marked the end of my good health and the start of what I like to call the 'Killer Canadian Flu-Cold' which I've been battling now for the last two weeks. It started off as an awful day of flu symptoms and has been followed by my nose running like a tap and my coughing like I am suffering from emphysema. Thankfully I am now starting to feel better. Steven, as per usual, is a superb 'carrier' and has not suffered an ounce of anything since we've been here. He keeps telling me its because his mum licked the spoon when he was a kid, but I'm sure my mum did that too!

Like true bandwagon hoper-oner-ers we've also fast become #1 Canucks fans. I can't believe how much I really enjoy hockey already (note: 'hockey' not 'ice-hockey'). It makes it alot easier to jump on the bandwagon when the first game we watched resulted in the Canucks securing the Presidents Trophy (minor premiers). The playoffs have just started and we're up 1-0 against Chicago with another 6 games to go. Go Canucks!!

Watching the Canucks.

To summarise, some things I have learned in my first two weeks -

Things I love about Vancouver

• Location, location, location! We're living in West End (Downtown Vancouver) and we're close to English Bay, Stanley Park, Granville Island and plenty of shops and restaurants - it's a great area for running too! Oh, and cupcakes!

Running along Broughton Street (our street).



Delicious cupcake post run.

• Vancouver Dogs. People love dogs here, therefore I love them. It makes me really miss Ruby though (so I'll include a pic just because I miss her). Dogs here are so stylish - they even have raincoats with hoods! There are heaps of dog friendly places and shops with water bowls outside for them. People even bring them into shops and stores!



The gorgeous Ruby.


• Vancouver-ites. So far, so good. The people here are so friendly. I have only seen one 'heated exchange of words' thus far where this homeless looking man was almost run over by an older man turning right around a corner, so I guess the exchange was warranted. The other thing I find completely hilarious is that people are SO friendly, they even stop in the middle of a road to give way to pedestrians ... and IN THE MIDDLE OF ROUND-ABOUTS - to give way! It's really great but I find it funny at the same time. As a pedestrian you kind of just walk out across streets and know that cars will automatically stop for you (except perhaps if you look like a homeless person? see above!)
• Wings! What's better than a tasty little deep fried chicken wing dipped in blue cheese sauce?



Delicious wings.

• Strawberries are so cheap! ($3 for a huuuuge punnet) and I love strawberries!

Things I need to learn to love about Vancouver

• The weather (average temperatures of 9/10 degrees, it was 4 degrees today and it's 'Spring'). It has also rained a fair bit (yes, yes we knew that) but I managed to find a great umbrella shop, called ... wait for it ... The Umbrella Shop... and I bought a cute hot pink umbrella. The lady in the store even showed me how to correctly fold it so it fits nicely back into its case and I have never, in the history of the universe, been able to put an umbrella back in its case. I am extremely excited about this and I now do it regularly.




Me with said pink umbrella.


• The number of homeless people - there are heaps of homeless people here. Not that we didn't know that before (we noticed it in 2008) but when you're walking around and every homeless person asks you for money (and as you know I never have money!) it kinda makes you feel bad. But then you can't give money to every person you see. So ... I'm going to have to accept and deal with it.
• Paying $3 to travel for 2 minutes on a ferry from the Aquatic Centre (just near us) to Granville Island on the ferry. Granville Island is awesome - great fresh food/indoor market type set up - but the ferry service is a rip job. The alternative is trekking for half an hour over a massive, busy, highway like bridge.
• Tipping. And tax in general. Canada has this HST thing which I think is a combination of sales tax and gst .. or something like that. Anyway, it's approximately 12.5% so every time you buy anything, 12.5% is added. It's so frustrating when you think you've got a good deal or the right change and then ... uh oh. TAX... As for tipping, as most would know I'm not one for mathematics in general, so having to work out anything tipping related is just annoying ... and awkward.

Things I am undecided on

• Living in a basement apartment. It has its benefits. It's cheap and warm and we have great company (until they depart in May!) but sometimes it's weird when you see people walking along the street and you catch them peering in through the windows as they pass. Not meaning to be weird, but it is.. kinda.
• Walking on the right hand side of everything, as you do over here. It's just wrong. But then I've found sometimes people walk in the middle and then that completely throws me off!

Things I don't like about Vancouver

• Being unemployed - it's fun for a week but now I'm over it. I need something to do. We're both working on that situation though and should have at least some temp work sorted within the next week. The recruitment agent actually offered me a job working for them, so I'll have a think about it and see what happens. Pay is terrible here though, but we all knew that!
• Having to remember when I want lemonade that I need to ask for 'Sprite' .. or else I get actual freshly squeezed lemonade. How bizarre - on our part probably, in hindsight.
• No one offers good oats here. I need my Uncle Toby's. I bought these Quaker oats that were supposed to be the same but they taste like dirt. Like crunchy dirt. Although I live in hope that I will get the liquid/oats/microwave timing ratio right one day. I keep trying. 

Enough for now! Clearly I have too much time on my hands being unemployed!

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