A Flavour of Life - Vancouver Style

I realised that as things in Vancouver start to become mundane that I've not really blogged. As my mother pointed out - I seem to only be writing about "worthy" things. It's not intentional, I assure you, I just don't think it's entirely fair to start splashing the names of aquaintances about where all the world can see! Hence plenty of nights-out go unchronicled here, and plenty of fiascos in the work-place too!

That being said, half of living in a place isn't the events but the everyday. The SkyTrain: driverless, fast, regular as clockwork. Tim Hortons - where the donuts are less than a dollar, and you can get a lunch combo for $5. Eau-de-Weed, that all-too-common Vancouveran scent. The hobos on every street corner, the crazies. We have regular crazies at HMV - my favourite is the crazy-dancing-lady. She spends hours at the listening-posts, harmlessly dancing away.

The thing is, that no matter where you go, the Earth is the Earth. But - to quote Pulp Fiction - "It's the little differences..." : chocolate tastes wierd, more powdery, less milky perhaps? Either way - don't buy an Aero - it's just not the same. The only place in the world with more Starbucks is probably Seattle. The streets are straighter, wider too, and all the electric cables hang overhead, buzzing away in an eerie fashion which makes you wonder if it might fall on top of you at any moment!

The crossing man is white, not green, and he makes a strange noise (though I struggle now to remember the sound of a British one). Skunks can occasionally be seen scampering between houses - racoons too, apparently. Mountains, with real snow on! are just on the city's doorstep, and I see them everyday. Art Gallerys and Museums are rare, and small, and barely visited... and therefore overpriced. Every-other person is of Asian descent - especially in East Vancouver. The Irish are here in abnormal amounts - as are the Aussies and Kiwis.

When it's not raining, or freakishly windy, the sun is glorious - and the sunsets here are sublime:

(I took that one from the SkyTrain Station in February!)

I have never seen a city with so many trees! And we have cherries along our street:

I'm living in a basement flat with two other housemates and we each have our own room. Our old housemate Johanna (who is Swedish,) moved out in the beginning of April, so we made meatballs and mash for a last meal kinda thing:

This all kicked off because Jules loves cooking and eating together, and kept stuffing our faces with pancakes. (Seriously, I think I put on weight!) Jules (on the right below) is German. She's still here, but now we have a new housemate - Emily, who's Korean and very nice. (She may be cooking us some octopus soon - how cool is that?) Anyway, will probably write again with more snippets of the mundane later! Toodles!