I k, this blog headline is so creative. Anyway… Monday, Monday was the day of my bye,bye. I woke up at nine, finished the rest of packing and then I left my room in the AirBnB. Check-Out was at 10. But I stayed in Sandras and Linas Room until I had to get my bus to the airport. The rest oft he morning was lazy… Lina was at work and Sandra and I didn´t do anything. Because oft he fact that Lina went to work really early and came home around three I couldn´t see her anymore, so I said goodbye to her the evening before my flight. Around 1:30pm Sandra brought me tot he bus station and I also said goodbye to her. I really enjoyed my one week in Calgary and now tbh I have to admit that I would have stayed maybe one more week longer. We did so many cool things, laughed together and just had fun. Hopefully, Sandra and Lina, I am going to see u one more time in Canada. If not back in Germany. @Sandra, you´ll have to promise me if u get PR, to come for vaccations to Germany and to visit me. @Lina, I´ll come visit u in Schmolde. No I am sitting at the gate and I am saying hello to my new adventure. VANCOUVER!!! I´ll spend at least three weeks alone in that big city at the west coast until Mario will come. I am going to stay at a Couchsurfer almost Downtown. I´ll let u k what we´ll do, if I like it there and all the important things😊 Keep in touch. Only 50 more minutes until I´ll be above Calgary.
Tuesday: Ok before talking about this day, I´ll have to tell u about the rest of the day yesterday.
The horrible thing about the flight was that the airline combined two flights, so it was completely full. I mean I can understand that from the airline’s perspective, but in Covid times…. I had three temperature checks during my entire trip. Arrived in Vancouver, I went after the baggage pickup with the Sky Train to downtown. My couchsurfer Melandro (immigrated from the Phillipines 12 years ago and works in a hotel, he is in his mid 30’s, gay and it shows. Plus he has an apartment in Olympic Village and I sleep on his couch there) always works from 3pm to 11:30pm. That meant I had to make it to his hotel and pick up the key. I walked up the stairs and directly I was approached by a wild stranger. He said, “You’re coming from the airport. Where do you have to go? I’ll help you…” I was already a bit suspicious… then it was “yes where are you from” “Germany” “ah my parents are from Bavaria and I from the USA, I’m still flying there tonight and now I have to get to my apartment quickly, unfortunately my credit card is broken…. can you give me 4 dollars” – I just said “no, you can run away really fast, I won’t give you anything!” I must say the man has made it really smart and always tries to wrap arriving tourists at the Sky Train Downtown Station around his finger. Then I took the bus to the hotel and picked up the key. Then it went by UBER to his apartment and after I went shopping and cooked me something, I went to bed at 11:00.
Now the real Tuesday starts. Mel and I left at 11:00 and he showed me around a bit of all the neighborhoods and showed me Vancouver. We had Japanese lunch and then he went to his hotel for work. During our city tour I learned a lot about Vancouver right away. Vancouver has two sides. On the one hand, Vancouver is a great city with a high quality of life. You have Stanley Park, the English Bay, the sea but also mountains and everywhere restaurants and bars. The whole package is right, if it wasn’t for Hastings Street. On the other hand, you have Hastings Street. This is located between Chinatown and Gastown. A street where you only see homeless people. If you are interested in that, google it. When we just crossed the street, I saw 5 needles lying around, one man using heroin or crack and just extreme poverty. It smells everywhere like a mixture of weed and urine. Look at the pictures. Horrible.
After Mel left for work, I slowly walked back along the waterfront, took pictures, and enjoyed Vancouver. I went shopping before I arrived home and then cooked. After dinner I met up with Clara on Granville Island. Clara is an Austrian girl who I met on Facebook. She entered Canada 4 months ago and was 3 months as an au pair in Toronto and then flew 3 weeks ago here to Vancouver. Here she is also again as an au pair with a family. After she graduated from high school she went on a world trip for a year. Before that I pull my dog. America, Asia, Australia, Europe – many different countries. And now the 21-year-old is in Canada. She showed me a bit of Vancouver on my second day, we went out for Korean food and at 11:30pm we were both back home. A nice first day in Vancouver, where I already made some friends.
On Wednesday Mel had his first day off. We left at 11am. It went to Granville Island. A relatively small island on the waterfront near Kitsilano. At that time an industrial area, today renaturated and redesigned. Granville Island is known for the brewery and the market hall. We bought many different snacks, did a beer tasting and just enjoyed the time. After that we walked all the way up the coast and took the “Aqua Boat” over to downtown. There we looked for shoes. My old shoes are pretty worn out, so I bought new ones. After that it was already 5pm. Shopping, cooking and then watched a movie together.
Sidefact: Parts of Vancouver are in the rainforest. Recently I was in the boreal coniferous forest, and now in the rainforest. Another reason why this country is so great and has so much to offer.
On Thursday Mel and I visited this rainforest. In the north of Vancouver there is the so called “Capilano Suspension Bridge”. A small park, which lies in the middle of the green and humid rainforest. Normally you pay $55 entrance fee, but since Mel works at the hotel and has a tourist pass, we got in for free. We spent a whole three hours on site. One advantage through Covid was there. No tourists, hardly anything going on, so we had the park almost to ourselves.
- Sidefact: In one year, 2351mm of precipitation falls in Vancouver. In comparison: In 2020, Saarland was the state with the highest amount of precipitation with 881 liters. I think that explains why you have rainforest here.
In the evening we went out for Greek food. The restaurant was quite nice, but I don’t have to go there again. They didn’t even know gyros.
On Friday I had a phone call with Gavin in the morning. After that I bought a bike at a second hand store. With this I plan the next few weeks to explore Vancouver. On this day I went to UBC, University of British Columbia, which is located relatively far outside. I visited the campus, went to the beach and watched soccer, rugby and field field hockey.
On Saturday I met at 2pm together with Luca Mayer at Science World. Luca arrived 3 months ago, works at Pristine Labour (a construction company) and plans to leave in early April. We met on Facebook.
Science World, supposedly a must-see attraction in Vancouver. Maybe for school groups or kids or families, but it wasn’t for us and the $27 admission could have been saved. A science museum, which also relies on interactive things. Pretty cool, but I wouldn’t recommend it. After that we went to gastown and ate noodles in a very nice restaurant. At 8 o’clock we were both home again.
On Sunday I met Clara again to finish my first week in Vancouver. Cool first week- more to go:)
Canada Work&Travel 