The First Week

The First Week

Hello. I didn't realise how hard it would be to start a ""blog"". It's not that there is nothing to say, it's just that I can't think of an interesting way to say it - I'm worried I'll fall in to the trap of saying everything's amazing in an attempt to convince myself that I'm having the best time ever and rub it in the faces of you lot back at home. But I will try and veer away from that type of stuff.

So, I've been in the beautiful city of Vancouver for just over a week now. By the way, it's ok for me to call it beautiful; all the vehicle license plates have "Beautiful British Columbia" proudly engraved onto them. However, it did take me a good few days to realise just what these cars were going on about...

When the plane landed at the airport last Wednesday, it marked the beginning of 5 days of constant rain. According to the locals, rain is very common this time of year - this time of year being until bloody May. Oddly, for a city that apparently has so much rain, the drainage system seems pretty poor. The streets are commonly lined with a good inch or two of water meaning a soggy foot is all but inevitable. Sorry, this is hopelessly veering off track, I'm sure there are more interesting things to talk about other than the drainage system.

On Monday, the weather changed dramatically - the rain stopped, the clouds lifted and the sun came out practically wearing a hat upon his incandescent head. I found myself with some time to spare. I had landed a job in the afternoon through a temping agency. The job was described to me by the disinterested woman on the phone as "...just moving some tables about really". So, I made the most of the sunny weather by going for a stroll around Stanley Park and was just staggered by the beauty of the city. The combination of snow capped mountains, skyscrapers and luscious blue waters was enough to make me stop in my tracks. (well I didn't actually stop. I was running a bit behind and needed to get to work. Those tables weren't going to move themselves). I have never seen anything like this before. I tried to take some photos to capture the feel of this place, but seeing as I don't have any experience in photography I ended up just pointing the camera hopelessly at the mountains and hoping for the best!

I am currently staying in a hostel in Downtown Vancouver which is pretty central and has lots of cheap places to eat. The food in Vancouver is ridiculously priced. It cost's about $6 (about 3 quid) to have a cheap meal out, but a weekly shopping session at the local 'Super-Valu' supermarket will probably cost double what it does in the UK. I don't really understand why and have made no attempt to find out - but eating out every night works out fine for me!

Like London (and probably every other city in the world), Vancouver contains a number of sub-districts which can usually be summed up in one word; posh, gay, cheap, dirty, boring etc. They all seem to be pretty safe apart from the East Side which is full of mental tramps. The tall lady* at the orientation talk said this was because Vancouver used to have a mental hospital but it was closed down and the patients were left to wander the street. She then added "it's not funny guys".

Hmm, I feel like I should talk about the people I have met, but I don't want say things like "everyone is lovely" or "I have made hundreds of friends". It has, after all, only been a week and the lovely people could turn out to be cheeky thieving bastards. But I don't think they will. I have found myself settling into a group of about 6 people who are ever so nice and we are facing the job/accommodation hunting struggle together.

So in my first week, I have been proved that the license plates are indeed correct; Vancouver is an extremely beautiful city. At the moment, I am very happy with everything, although thats probably down to the cocaine! (only joking, mum!)

Anyway, that's my first, long-overdue blog entry. I have uploaded some photos to the web: http://picasaweb.google.com/chrischivers/TheFirstWeek

Chris

*Hmm, is 'tall' really the extent of my vocabulary these days? I'm sure there are more descriptive and linguistically interesting things to say about her. But she was quite tall. Long arms...