Vancouver poking its head above the fog

I know I have been slack with the blogging to which there is no excuse, I have had plenty of time on my hands as I am still unemployed. Last Friday marked a quarter of a year since I last worked!

If someone had told me before leaving Australia that I would be at least three months before finding full time employment, I would probably have reconsidered relocating. Couchsurfing has been an absolute saviour as I have managed a couple of months rent free so far.

Obviously it is a very difficult time to be moving to a new country and finding employment. Canada has a higher unemployment rate than Australia but there seems to be lots of jobs being advertised. I guess the field is more competitive than usual due to unemployment rates. I have gotten past the second round of interviews a couple of times so I am confident that full time employment is just around the corner. All that aside, I haven’t written much about what Vancouver is actually like and it’s probably about time.

Firstly, the tap water here tastes fantastic. If there was ever a place that didn’t need bottled water it’s here. Before leaving Perth all I was thinking about was how cold it would be, making sure I had thermal underwear and gloves etc. It is actually nowhere near as cold as I thought it would be. The weather actually reminds me a lot of Melbourne. Having said that, there have been times when I have been out at night and thought `this is as cold as I can ever remember being’ – and it probably is. My condition improved as soon as I purchased a proper waterproof winter coat for snowshoeing (more on snowshoeing in another blog).

When I first arrived there was a lot of snow on the street from a blizzard in December that provided the most snow in about 20 years. The snow was a problem as the people and businesses just weren’t prepared. I am told that every shop sold out of snow salt (applied to the street to aid the melting process) and snow shovels. No one was to blame, but people are always looking for a scapegoat and the front page of the papers had sensational headlines like ‘WHY YOUR STREET DIDN’T GET SWEPT’. Many streets were undrivable and some Mexicans I stayed with said that they had to trudge through 30 minutes of snow to get to a bus stop each day as their usual bus route was unable to operate in their part of the city.

I have been lucky enough to see it snow a couple of times but nothing more than enough to coat the trees and grass with a layer of beautiful white. It does rain a lot in Vancouver but it’s generally light and falls straight down so you can get away with having a waterproof coat with a hood on it. There is also the odd really lovely day of sunshine and despite it being maybe 7 degrees it still feels like T-shirt weather.

Shortly after I arrived, for a week and a half straight there was a fog that descended over the city which was very dreamy and eerie. It wasn’t until going to a standup comedy show that I was informed that all the fog that had descended on the city was actually quite strange and that most Vancouver residents were also surprised by it. The very impressive photo that you can see was taken (not by me) from a nearby mountain which I can actually see from where I am staying (it is particularly cool at night when you can see the lights on for the night skiers.

The city itself is incredibly picturesque. It is set between the different bits of the ocean and mountain. My second day in Vancouver I got a bit of a shock when I saw a mountain for the first time – I have seen `mountains’ before but these are the sort that look really sharp and rocky and have snow on top not like the ones in Australia that are kind of round and are covered with trees.

There is lots of construction everywhere in anticipation of the Winter Olympics (under 12 months away). In addition to construction, they are ripping up the streets everywhere. When I first arrived the streets were in place but all the trees had been cut down (and I later found out they were saved) which was puzzling until they started pulling the street apart. Most of the tree stumps had funny graffiti written on them such as `insert tree here’

While I am on the subject of the Olympics, I have been applying for a number of jobs with VANOC (the Olympic committee), there seems to be a lot of resistance to the Olympics. It’s not surprising given the cost and the risks associated given the economic crisis. Costs have blown out by epic proportions and the average tax payer is growing impatient. I think many people are also worried about low numbers attending the games (again the economic crisis).

Graffiti can be seen around Vancouver that says `fuck vanoc’ and `no Olympics on stolen land’ but I seem to remember the same sentiment leading up to Sydney 2000.

It’s been a long time between blogs…

In my last blog I mentioned the need for me to keep my eyes on the ball. There was however one more luxury that I had promised myself I would indulge when I got to Canada.
The hostel sells cheap tickets to Canucks games. What is a Canuck? Well a Canuck is what Canadians refer to themselves as (e.g. Australians are Aussies). The Canucks is also the name of the Vancouver ice hockey team that plays in the National Hockey League or NHL (North American pro league, what NBA is to basketball, NHL is to ice hockey). I’m not sure that ironic is the word but I’ve always thought it silly that there are the Vancouver `Canucks’ and the Montreal `Canadians’ that play in the same league.

As I have always followed the NHL somewhat, it was very exciting to go to my first NHL or any other North American pro sporting match. Before the match the people from the hostel met and had a quick bite to eat while a girl from the hostel explained the rules of hockey for the benefit of those new to the game.

There was some hoo-har surrounding this match as it was the first home game for newly acquired player Mats Sundin who was a legend with the Toronto Maple Leafs (yes I agree it should be Toronto Maple LEAVES).

The Canucks ended up losing a close match that had some questionable officiating in the finals minutes and there were some very irate fans. This game also started a very large losing streak for the Canucks (including about 9 in a row at home) from which they have since recovered.

The highlight of the match came at the end of the match. As we (and the entire stadium) got up to leave, an Australian girl next to me asked “where are you going” as if we were all heading for a hot dog or some other gross arena `food’. I told her that some people were heading out for a drink but that I was heading back to the hostel. She then asked “What about the fourth quarter?”

In case you didn’t get that last joke, ice hockey is probably the only sport in the world that has three periods of play. You are forgiven if you didn’t know this.

Another blog soon crew. Plenty of time still on my hands…

-Tee

Just writing this because it all looks a bit quite in here. That’s more than can be said for my workplace.

For one day only – and the public have been queuing round the block – we have U2 playing on the roof of one of our buildings to promote their new album. This is good for the radio shows they’re playing for. But, their PA is set up directly opposite our building in which we produce two channels of TV News.

So one of the channels has moved its bulletins out of one of the studios on that side of the building lest our puzzled viewers find their news being shouted by Bono - and the other channel is taking part of the gig live into a conveniently placed Rock segment. My part in this is helping get the live gig into the rock segment.

UPDATE: much later it went pretty well the good people of Iran and Afghanistan had a first (possibly) bite of U2 live  - phew – thus is history made:)