Go Canucks Go

So hockey season has started and there’s certainly been a buzz about the place since. I haven’t yet managed to get to a game (tickets are fairly pricey) but it seems half the city have Vancouver Canuck’s jerseys and tops on if it’s a game day. Canucks posters are everywhere around town and even the buses alternate their front display between route number/destination and a big, bright “Go Canucks Go!” on game day. 

I’ve been told the Canucks are perennial slow-starters so usually have an average October, but they’re certainly one of the NHL’s better teams. Last season they lost in the Stanley Cup finals (the play-off finals for the laymen) – unfortunately taking their Stanley Cup Finals record to 0-3! You may well have heard on the news about the riots that kicked off in parts of Vancouver in the wake of the decisive game 7 loss to Boston earlier this year. Anyway, I’ve watched a few of the games on TV and at the time of writing, though they’ve won 4, lost 3 and had 1 overtime loss. With the NBA in full lock-out mode, hockey has definitely leapt up to number 2 sport for me and I keep bugging my colleagues with Canucks chat despite the fact they mostly couldn’t care less. Favourite players are the big Swedish Sedin twins (naturally) and Ryan Kesler.

So I realised earlier that I’ve now been here for 6 weeks so I better give you my impressions of the city. It’s definitely one of the best looking cities I’ve been to. The nature and scenery are absolutely breathtaking at times. Travelling to and from Downtown is great as the Skytrain is mostly overground, so you get a spectacular view of the mountains. There seems to be a perfect balance with the ocean, the mountains and the city. One of the first things that struck me is how much green there is around the place. There are parks of various sizes all over and you’re never too far away from the grass and trees, even Downtown. Water-features are also very popular here. I’ve got to say I really like them. They look good and they definitely have a calming effect on the soul!

The people are very health conscious and active. As you can imagine, there’s a whole host of activities right on the doorstep; hiking, kayaking, jogging, cycling, skiing, etc. People seem to be big into organic, healthy foods and I’ve met quite a lot of veggies/vegans so far. I’m far from being converted but I’m right on board with all the physical activity! On the subject of people, one thing I didn’t expect was how multi-cultural Vancouver is. There are LOADS of Asians here – and I mean LOADS! I’ve met people from all over the world, be they travellers or residents. I’ve probably met more Aussies than actual Canadian’s thinking about it! It gives the city a unique flavour and you also get an awesome selection of restaurants. For a big city with all the skyscrapers and highways I love the fact that you never feel crowded or rushed, a la London. The population of Metro Vancouver is around 2 million and I was astounded to hear that the population of Canada as a whole is only 33 million – about 50% of the UK but with 40 times the land area.

Probably the worst part about the city is the number of homeless people around, especially in busy areas Downtown like Granville Street. Due to the milder climate in Vancouver they come from all over – guess it makes for an easier night on the streets. Chinatown and the Downtown eastside area are notorious for drug addicts and beggars but I’ve got to say they seem to be pretty well-behaved from what I’ve seen. I believe there’s a law that they can only ask you for money/food once and believe it or not this seems to be adhered to, so they don’t cause too much bother.

So since my last update I’ve mostly been working. It has been going great at Hermes and most days are a good laugh but some people really do have too much money! The average sale must be between $500-1000 and I’ve seen people dropping $15k+ without batting an eyelid a few times. Some people are actually obsessed with the brand too – it’s a little bit crazy! Still, it pays the bills and it also gives me the opportunity to meet a hell of a lot more people than I would do grinding an office job. We get the odd Canadian celebrity popping in, which is cool, and more than a few arrogant tossers, which is not so much. It’s taken a little time to adjust to not having weekends (I usually have Mondays and Thursdays off) and it also means I don’t really have time to venture too far at the minute. Still, my original plan was to work for around 9 months and go travelling at the end, so there’s plenty of time to explore!

I did take the opportunity on one of my days off last week to have a look around Burnaby Central Park. The weather hasn’t been too great recently but it was decent enough for a solitary stroll around this large green/woodland space not too far from my place in Edmonds. Here are a few pictures I took, as you can see I made some new friends:

Black squirrels - so cute!

Some type of goose - think they're named after some country or other. Not sure.

Korean War Memorial

Swangard Stadium

I’ve also managed to join a gym finally. It’s only about 5 minutes walk from my place and very cheap ($20/month rolling) compared to a few places I looked at. It’s only been open around 3 months so all the equipment (of which there’s a lot!) is all nice and new and clean. I’ve been doing the intervals class on Thursday mornings which has been good fun. The first time I was the only person that signed up so I got a decent personal training session out of it! 

It was quite cool this Thursday as the owner of the gym and all-round Vancouver and NHL legend Trevor Linden showed up to film some promos to go up on the website. I’ll have to keep an eye out as I may feature working out in the background of one or two! This came the day after I got extremely jealous of my colleague, Gina, as she goes to one of Steve Nash’s gyms Downtown and the man himself showed up when she was down there. I definitely would have been a lot more star-struck with Steve Nash, but, hey, I’m a hockey fan now so big Trevor Linden will suit me fine!

I also managed to pick up a basketball for $4 at the local thrift shop, so I can no go ballin’ at the park behind my house which has a pretty decent court. However, the rain has arrived in the last few days and looks set to stay so may be waiting a while till I can get out there.

Trevor in his prime

One new experience for me a couple of days ago was a Green Tea Latte from Canada’s favourite, Tim Horton’s. Seemed like a novel idea but tasted a bit weird. Apparently it’s pretty popular though. 

Today one of our happy customers brought in a big platter of sushi which tasted awesome. I haven't really had much sushi before and when I have it's mostly been the crappy stuff they sell in the supermarkets back home. There was so much I ate some when I came back from lunch, on afternoon break then offered to take the rest of it home for my dinner as it was just going to be chucked out in the end. Good stuff!

A final word about Skype. I haven’t really had much opportunity to talk with anyone due to the time difference and me working weekends. If you want to get some face-time just drop me an email and we’ll sort something out. My username for anyone who doesn’t have me is sfield86.

I’m off to watch some Trailer Park Boys and hit the hay before Arsenal game and gym before work tomorrow.

Love,

S x

Back to employment!

Hey yall,

Just checking in with a very quick update.

The last few days of last week were pretty hectic, calling and emailing recruiters, attending interviews, etc. I managed to get a day's work in a office not far from my house. It was an employee benefits service business of some kind but it turned out the office was being shut down, so I'd arrived on the very last day. Boxes of papers were all over the floor and pictures were being taken off the walls. I was there doing some final organising and photocopying. Not great fun but I was thinking of the $.

On Friday I went for an interview for a junior accounts position at a company in Burnaby that manufactures deep-sea diving suits and submarine rescue vechicles. Seemed like a really interesting place but unfortunately I didn't get it.

Saturday and Monday I was working at the Renaissance Hotel near the waterfront in Downtown Vancouver. It was basically shifting and assembling new coffee tables for all of the rooms. It was tough work and took an unbelievably long time to get them all up (there must have been new tables for about 450 rooms). I was working with a German guy, Sven, who was nice enough. He seemed to get the British sense of humour by the end of it as well - either that or he was giving me plenty of pity laughs.

Anyway, the major news is I now have a permanent job as a store assistant at a really nice store in Downtown, Hermes. It's a very expensive French high-fashion/design store. Not sure how I got the gig but should be an interesting place to work! I'll keep you updated on how it goes!

Much love,
S x

Boring week -> New Place!

Hello everyone! Hope you're well. Apologies for not posting an update for a while!

When I left you last time I had a butt-load of 'real-life' stuff still to sort out. Well, the good news is that it is mostly all done! I've got a new cell phone (number on my fb page should you ever need it - I get unlimited international text messages, but I guess you don't), my resume is ready to rock and... I've moved into a new place! (Yes, sorry that I haven't got a job yet, Mum.)

After a couple of days scouring craigslist for apartments it seemed like the whole process might be a bit of a headache. Initially I was looking for 2-bed apartments for Mark and I, but soon started looking for 3-bed places with our good buddy, Daniel, your typical gift-of-the-gab Irishman, who we'd met in the hostel. We didn't even want to move in with him but somehow he talked us into it. (j/k Danny boy!) We figured an extra person to split bills etc could only be a good thing. The bad news was we were only hearing negative stories when apartment hunting. Someone in the hostel was saying 2-bed places are hard enough to find, 3-bed impossible. From the ads I'd seen and the stories I was hearing it sounded like most places a rented unfurnished too, which would be a bit of an expensive nightmare for us. Anyway, unperturbed, I carried on the hunt for 3-beds.

On Monday I found an ad for place in Collingwood, a residential district about 12 mins from Downtown on the SkyTrain, that Mark and I had been to have a quick walk around previously. I arranged a viewing and the 3 of us went out there to take a look. The place was great but, as feared, completely unfurnished, so we had to say thanks but no thanks. So the search continued. The annoying thing with craigslist is that some people include photos, others hardly any descriptions, some with phone numbers and others you can only email (not to mention the site has a lot of scammers).

On Wednesday morning I had a promising lead on a 3-bed place in South Burnaby. I made the call and we went to view the place a few hours later. We met this guy at his restaurant (more of a Filipino fast-food cafe) and he drove us round to the place. It's even further out of town than Collingwood but still on the same SkyTrain Line, so no more than 20 minutes from Edmonds station. I'd be pretty happy with that commute if I was in London, I thought to myself. The place itself was fantastic. It's the upper floor of a house that this guy, Jun, had only recently bought. 3 big bedrooms, a large living room and a decent size kitchen with all the required appliances. It actually seemed too good to be true, so I was very cautious and acted somewhat like a character in Spooks during the whole process. However, everything seemed to check out and Jun appeared to be a stand-up guy, promising to provide even more furnishings than were in the place at the time and he even gave us a quick drive around the area whilst we struck up a conversation about Manny Pacquiao. Another benefit of this place was that we could move in straight away, rather than waiting for the 1st or 15th of the month, which seems customary here. We shook hands on a $550/month rent each (approx £350/month), which would include all of our utilities (water, electric, cable TV, 20mb wifi etc) - very happy! I even managed to bag myself the room with en-suite - a reward for finding the place I guess! It turned out that some of Jun's relatives would be living in the basement suite below us and he even said that they would do all our laundry for us! I didn't really know what to make of that. I'd feel bad lumping all my laundry on the poor lady downstairs!

The whole thing had worked out really well for Mark and I, as we were due to check out from the SameSun on Friday morning and could move into our new pad Friday afternoon. For those that are interested, here we are on google maps - at Mary Ave and Edmonds St. It seems to be a nice area, with most things within 5 mins walk and a couple of decent parks nearby for runs etc. It's certainly a lot more peaceful than Granville St. Here's a shot of Edmonds:

Sorry, here you go, the real Burnaby-Edmonds:

Not our view unfortunately, but looks alright, don't you think?

Here's a few shots of the place. Sorry, no wide-angle camera to take decent room shots. Very bare at the minute but once we've all got jobs I'm sure we'll start to fill it with junk.

7237 Mary Ave

Living room 1

Living room 2

My room (very interesting)

Kitchen

Little balcony/back yard. (Taken from inside the kitchen as it's pissing down)

It may be a little way out of Downtown Vancouver but as I previously mentioned it's only 20 mins on the SkyTrain. We're on a month-by-month basis too, so we're not tied down.

There hasn't been much adventuring done over the past week as you can imagine. I've done my first couple of food shops, got myself the equivalent of a Tesco clubcard, scouted some gyms ready for signing up once the job is in the bag and we've tried out the few bars that are in our area. Nothing too thrilling!

So today is the start of a new week - job week. It's a typical rainy day here. I best stop procrastinating/blog-writing and get on with firing some resumes out!

Catch you later!
Simon x

Grind on the Mind

Wow, time passes pretty quickly doesn't it? Seems like only yesterday I did my last post.

Well, what have I been up to? I left you on Sunday as I was recovering from a mild hangover thanks to Saturday night's shinanigans. We took the opportunity to have a gentle stroll south along Granville St and across the bridge to Granville Island. It turned out to be a really cool, quirky area and has actually been described as "one of the world's great places." There was an awesome public market with dozens of stands selling fresh fruit/veg, meats, chocolates, cheeses, pates, art, crafts, etc. Definitely a place I will go back to once I'm earning. Also on the island were various crafts workshops, an art university, restaurants, small theatres, a nice marina and, my favourite place, the Granville Island Brewing Co. Of course, we went in and sampled one of everything they had! I recommend the Brockton IPA when you get here.

On Monday Mark and I went to Grouse Mountain, a 1200m+ mountain on Vancouver's North Shore. The weather was perfect again so it was a great day to go. After having a big breakfast (including THE best/thickest milkshake I've ever had) at the guidebook-recommended Templeton - a 1950s-style diner across the street - we set off for the North Shore.  The main reason we were going was to take on the infamous "Grouse Grind" hiking trail up the mountain. As many of you will know, "grind" is one of my favourite words thanks to my poker interest, so I was mega-excited for this! I'd heard about it before coming and due to the number of tourists/visitors that had succeeded in finishing the Grind I expected that it really wasn't that difficult a trail. How wrong I was.

The start of the Grind

We started off at a pretty blistering pace. Step after step, rock after rock - we truely were grinding away in an unbelievable fashion. Several people got overtaken and I was feeling pretty good about myself. This did not last long as I began to flag pretty soon after - absolutely ruing forgetting to bring a bottle of water. We started having to take what we called "mini-breaks" fairly regularly, allowing a number of people we had bowled past at the beginning to take us over again - highly embarrassing. The sweat was pouring, the legs were starting to get a little heavy, I was getting dehydrated, and then, after what seemed like a lifetime, we come to a sign of a tree marked "1/2 way". Needless to say a few choice words were muttered under my breath. The Grouse Grind has this amazing ability to keep getting steeper the further up you go. We had been warned this trail wasn't for the novice hiker and our complacency had cost us.

Mark and I kept reminding each other that all we could do was keep grind on the mind (yes, another poker phrase). Several more mini-breaks later we eventually made it to the top. It was such a nice sight to see the sky emerging out of the trees after 1h10 of climbing! We headed straight for the cafe to get a bottle of water and a well-earned energy drink, and we chilled out for a few minutes enjoying the endorphin rush.

The views at the top of the mountain made the Grind so worthwhile. I couldn't remember seeing anything as breathtaking and there were probably more trees in my field of vision than I had seen collectively in my whole life. Unfortunately the photos in no way do them justice! There were added treats in the form of a Lumberjack show, a birds of prey demo (including my fave Bald Eagle) and a couple of Grizzly bears, one of which was appropriately named "Grinder". It was crazy being less than a metre away from a Grizzly. Hopefully I won't have that experience out in the wilds! Here are a selection of the photos (I REALLY need to go and buy batteries for my camera - sorry for inflicting the crappy phone camera pics on you!):

Grrrrrizzly Bear

Best looking bird I've seen so far

Treeeeeeeeeeeees

Amazing scenery

Chump at the top of the Grouse Mountain

Our day of grinding was going great and the excitement was only building as we had poker night to look forward to back at the hostel.  We paid our $10 to get cablecarred back to the foot of the mountain and from there journeyed back Downtown. The poker night was $10, which got us dinner and our tournament buy-in. There were 12 players with $40 going to 1st and $20 going to second. It wasn't the highest standard of poker you'll ever see but it was good fun and we met a great bunch of guys and gals. I shipped the tourny and the $40, which promptly went back into the hands of the staff behind the bar. Mark came 3rd, amusingly. Standard.

Last night ended up getting pretty messy. We started off in the hostel bar, getting through a number of jugs with a couple of Aussie guys we met at the poker, Andrew and Tom. We ventured out up Granville St a little later, first of all going into a place called Republic that a promo girl had given us a free shot ticket for. The place was truely awful - basically empty and REALLY pretentious. 2 small bottles of beer cost about $16. I quickly scanned their cocktail/drinks menu and they had bottles of champagne on there for over $1800! It seemed to be trying to cater for completely the wrong market. So after our free shot and about 10 minutes we bolted for the door. Thankfully we hadn't paid to go in. We walked a few doors up to a place called Roxy which was a lot more down-to-earth. A mixture of the cover band, the DJ and plentiful Canadian ales kept us going on the dancefloor to the wee-smalls.

Needless to say it was a hangover this morning. I decided to go for a walk to Kitsalano and left Mark to fester in his pit. Kits is quite an affluent area with nice houses and a fantastic beach. The weather wasn't as good this morning so I'll post some pics when I go on a nicer day. I did spot this on my way round, though. Thought it was quite cool:

The past couple of days have been less adventurous, taking the time to sort out my Social Insurance Number and a bank account. Unfortunately I discovered I put an old version of my CV resume on my USB stick, so I've got to re-write that. The apartment and job hunting process has begun and I just need to get myself a Canadian mobile cell phone. I've booked another week in the hostel today. The vibe is good and the people are awesome.

Simon out x

First Impressions

WOW. Only way to sum up my first impressions of this place.

The trip over couldn’t really have gone much smoother. Packing my bags was the worst bit. In the end I did my usual trick of getting Mum to help me (and by 'help' I mean do everything). I ended up having to leave quite a few bits behind as I was initially way over the limit but when I got the the check-in desk I was at the exact max of 20.0kg! Good job, Mum!

Check-in at the airport was fine and there was a funny moment when Jonesey was interrogated by security before the check-in desk. After I told the guard we were going to Vancouver he asked Mark for how long. “Err.. a year..?" replied Mark, unsure as to whether that was an acceptable answer.

There was another weird moment shortly after take-off as the Captain announced the route. Apparently we were flying towards Dublin then we’d be “doubling-back on ourselves” towards Scotland and onwards... that just didn’t seem right!

On the plane I was sat next to a Northern Irish guy who was going mountain biking in Whistler. He’d definitely drawn the short-straw with the seats. I’d booked extra leg room, which I was so grateful for after walking into the cabin and seeing the seat pitches, but this guy had a huge box in front of his seat which you weren't allowed to rest your legs on, so he essentially had less legroom than a standard seat. Not sure how that one worked!

In the air, the captain announced we were passing over Greenland and to check out the icebergs. Some were absolutely huge, even from 37,000 ft. Nothing could have compared to flying over the Rockies, however. It was the wow-factor I’d been waiting for – enormous snow-topped mountains, just like the pictures! Awesome!

Greenland Icebergs

 

The 10 hours flew by (yes, I'm here all week) and we quickly got through to immigration. Mark and I were standing in the queue when a military-style officer seemed to pick us out of a line of roughly 40 people and walked off with our passports and visa documentation. Thankfully everything was fine and it all went without a hitch. I didn't have to show proof of funds, proof of insurance or even sing the Canadian national anthem. Mark was spreading rumours that he’d read online of 2-3hr immigration queues and people getting grilled by the officers when getting their official visas. However, the guy that eventually sorted my visa only asked one question: “Working holiday?” “Absolutely,” I responded. A few more taps on his keyboard and a couple of staples later I was free to go!

First view on the ground!

 

There was news of an earthquake as soon as we landed, which was nice. As we got on the SkyTrain to head downtown a group of airport security guards who had finished their shift were talking about it. “6.4! Did you feel it?” Fortunately it wasn't in Vancouver itself but on the Western side of Vancouver Island, a good 200km away and there wasn't any damage. The other most notable thing was the weather. It was SO hot - not what I'd expected at all as I'd prepared myself for a Bristol-style rain season that lasted most of the year.

The Samesun hostel was easy enough to find, 3 blocks down from the SkyTrain stop. The rooms are extremely 'cosy' but the price and location are perfect. We're in a room with a South African guy called Sisander and an Irish guy, Neil. I spotted an Arsenal shirt in the laundry pile near one of the beds, which turned out to be Sisander's. What a legend. In fact, I spotted two other people with Arsenal shirts on walking around the streets within the first couple of hours. Oo to be a Gooner! Another early observation: a very high % of the girls I'd seen were hot. Everything was falling into place. 

SameSun sign - right outside the bedroom window!

Saturday was my first full day here. First things first, Arsenal were playing Swansea which was kicking off at 7am local time. I was still on a UK bodyclock and so had been awake for a while anyway. I got showered and headed downstairs to the bar/restaurant to collect my free breakfast and watch the game. After suffering through the dodgy 1-0 win, I decided to go and explore a little bit. The weather was absolutely amazing again so Mark and I headed up Granville St to Waterfront station and from there to Stanley Park. The city just looks absolutely stunning, wherever you walk. There's so much green space and you have the mountains in the distance which look incredible. We walked all the way around Stanley Park which took about 2hrs including stops to take in the scenery and take some snaps.

View across to Stanley Park with North Vancouver shore in the background

Downtown from Stanley Park

 

Lion's Gate Bridge

Cinema listings on the way back from Stanley Park. Nice work!

Still suffering a little from the UK bodyclock, we went back to the Hostel for a quick nap in the afternoon, which turned into a 4 hour sleep. We wasted no time getting ready for a night on the town, ending up in a club just down the road called Joseph Richard. At first it seemed a little bit 'Oceana' for my liking but the music was decent enough, ranging from (pop-)dance to hip-hop. I did request Jochen Miller/Markus Schulz - Rotunda to try and Trance it up a bit, but the DJ didn't seem to know what I was talking about. Pfffft.

Anyway, to sum up, the first couple of days have been awesome. Can't wait to check out more of the city! Hope everyone is well back home!

Simon x

3 days and counting...

Firstly, welcome to my blog! My aim is to keep friends and family updated with comments and photos from my grand Canadian adventure. I was lucky enough to be accepted onto the International Experience Canada (IEC) programme earlier in the year and, after what seems like a life-time, I'm now counting down the final few hours before I fly out to Vancouver.

I'm going to be flying from Gatwick to Vancouver on Friday with my good pal, Mark Jones, and we're booked to stay at the SameSun Backpackers Lodge in the heart of the city for the first week. From what I've heard and read the Samesun will be pretty lively and I might not be getting much sleep for the first few nights. However, I know I've got to keep myself organised and try to find a place to live and a job as quickly as possible, so I can't spend all my time partying!

Soon to be home...

 
A few days ago this article appeared on the BBC News website (much to the amusement of my friend, Mark Stephenson, who was quick to claim that the city had dropped in the rankings because they'd heard I was coming. Thanks mate!). After seeing the article, I decided to make it my mission to only leave the city once it's reached the #1 spot again! :)

On a more serious note though, my initial plan is to get a job in Vancouver for 9/10 months and then travel east across Canada in the last few weeks before flying home. Having said that, I'm going to try to keep as flexible as possible and keep as many options open as I can across the 12 months. Who knows what the future will bring? We'll see how close to my initial plan I came in September 2012!

Anyway, a couple of hours ago I purchased my insurance for the year, so aside from ironing my clothes and packing my bags I'm all set. I can't wait to get my first glimpse of the Canadian landscape and immerse myself into Vancouver life.

Anyone who wants to keep in contact can email me, tweet me or simply comment on any of my posts here. Take care guys! Wish me luck!

Love you all!
Simon x