The Vancouver Minute

Considering that I was in Vancouver for only a little more than 30 hours, this is going to be a long post. It's amazing how much you can pack into a short visit in a big city, though some of this story begins with the ferry.

I've never been on a ferry of this size before--at least not since I was about 2, which doesn't factor much into my memories. And I had a blast, mainly because of the Fog Deck (officially referred to as the Sun Deck). The Fog Deck is like being able to get outside of an aeroplane while still in flight so you can watch the ailerons during the landing. Also, instead of peering out of a tiny window at land miles beneath you, you can see the houses and rocks mere yards away.

 I never get bored of rocks covered in moss.

I met my mom's relatives, Eddie and Val, just outside the ferry terminal. They'd rented a car so they could show me the area, and we drove around Gastown (lots of lights and shops and hipsters), English Bay, and Stanley Park. They then dropped me at Science World for the afternoon, which was unfortunately overrun with children but still good for some reminiscing, and picked me up a couple hours later.

We then stopped at their apartment on Haro and walked up to Denman for dinner at a Japanese restaurant named Kingyo, where we had delicious prawns, tofu and pork, chicken karaage, sashimi salad, and hot sake. I then had to walk with some determination to meet my step goal for the day, so I marched along Denman and Beach in a loop.

This is where I ran into the first of the Strangers of Vancouver, which I'll cover in a bit. It's also where I took a picture of the sculpture at the top of this article. Normally I like to avoid flash on cameras, as it just bleaches everything (without sophisticated flash equipment, that is) but this time it really made the monument pop out of the darkness.

This hide-a-bed is lovingly referred to as The Tiltin' Hilton

This is the the view from where I slept. It's really something to roll over in the middle of the night, glance out the giant windows right next to you, and see the lagoon, Stanley park, and the lights of the Lion's Gate Bridge.

A glimpse of the UBC campus.

The next day Val drove me to UBC to ask about courses, though by this point I've become unsure about what I want to do, though in a good way: it feels like I can do anything, and being on a campus only enhances that feeling. I was pretty uncertain when I told the UBC advisor that I was investigating video game design programs. On the other hand, she directed me towards Simon Fraser's Interactive Art and Technology program, which has piqued my interest.

This of course meant visiting SFU in the middle of Surrey. Val had dropped me off so she could return the car and get work done, so I was on my own with no understanding of the transit at all, other than a suggestion that I probably wanted the 99 to get to the Sky Train. But I managed to find a drug store, buy a day pass, get on the 99, and get to the train, at which point I could basically get anywhere in the city.

I managed to reach SFU in time for their drop-in hours for general student counselling, but not during the hours for that specific program, so I now have some information on application requirements but not much on the program itself, alas. This convinced me that I needed more time to just research and plan, and that it was worth retreating to Victoria to do so. So I headed for the ferry again and managed to make the 7:00 pm back to Victoria.

A port near Tsawwassen. Put lights on anything and it'll be pretty in the dark.

Strangers of Vancouver

During my visit to Vancouver, a fair number of people struck up conversations with me. I don't know if this is normal in large cities, but it typically doesn't happen to me in Edmonton:

Drunk guy from Saskatoon on Denman Street: As I was doing my march to get steps, a random drunk guy said he thought I was someone he knew. He seemed baffled by the notion that I was just walking around the block. Then again, he had the glassy-eyed look of someone who'd had a lot to drink, so he was probably just stuck in baffled-mode.

New Grandma on the Sky Train: A woman sat next to me on the Sky Train and happily explained that she had just become a Grandma.

Kind Asian Woman on the Canada Line: On my way to the ferry, an Asian woman sat next to me. There was an abandoned coffee cup on the seat and she asked if it was mine--it wasn't, but I got rid of it anyway. I asked her about the Bridgeport stop and wondered if I'd make the 5:00 ferry. She thought it was likely. She was wrong, as it turned out, but it was still a pleasant sentiment.

English-Accented Woman Angry At Her Work: She sat next to me on the Canada Line after the Asian woman had left. Out of the blue, she asked me to verify if the text she was composing made sense, which apparently had to do with getting approval from her work to take a course. She was convinced she was being blocked for political reasons. I gave her some minor suggestions and she seemed happy(-ier).

It was fun to reminisce about past trips to Vancouver. I found my favourite exhibit at Science World: the cloud chamber, which shows streaks of condensation anywhere that high-energy particles hit it. Dad and I stared at it for ages last time I visited the place. It is now tucked in a corner, ignored by the public entirely except when I drew attention to it by staring at it. Even then, they didn't seem to care very much. I'm just fascinated by the idea of these particles of energy zipping through the world, everywhere, all the time.

The other fun memory, from the same trip where Dad and I stared at the cloud chamber, was that I was keen to ride the Sky Train just because I liked the idea of a... well, a train in the sky, dammit. Mom and I rode it to one end and back just for the experience of doing so. Hopefully she enjoyed it as much as I did.

There's plenty more I could cover about my overnight stay in Vancouver, from the discussions I had with Eddie and Val about how to live life, or the fingers-crossed tension of Val's daughter's job interview (it now sounds likely that she got it), but that would take more than a quick blog post, and this is already not a quick one. For now, I'm happy to just rest, walk the dog, and tidy up my belongings again--and to get ready for tonight: jazz dance class number two.