Wandering around Vancouver I've started to notice things that are different here to most other places. There are some things that you see a lot here that you rarely see back home, and there are somethings that you hardly ever see here which is a bit unusual. Since I'm incapable of keeping these random thoughts inside my own head, I typically thought I'd share them with you.
Things you see:
Sports with kids/dogs
People love to excercise here, especially along the beach where you'll find people jogging, rollerblading, cycling and skateboarding. What's unusual though, is the amount of people who bring along pets or children with them. Whether it's holding your dog on a lead whilst riding your bike, while Fido is dying from exhaustion, or jogging with a souped-up sports buggy in front of you occupied by Junior, there's a lot of multi-tasking going on.
Asian People
By Asians I mean mainly Chinese, Japanese and Korean people. There are TONS of them here. They have a Chinatown here, but it's irrelevant really since most of the suburbs are mainly Asian. It means that a lot of people here have even more problems understanding me than usual, but it also means you can get some good noodles or sushi.
Homeless people
I mentioned the amount of homeless people on my first email. It's astounding. You cannot walk for 2 minutes downtown without someone asking you for change. You also see a lot of people rummaging through bins throughout the city looking for cans and bottles that they get deposit money for bringing them to the recycle place. Most of them are centred around one particular strech of road, and driving down it is like a scene out of some post-apocalyptic film. You won't find many in much of the outer parts of the city, but in the downtown eastside there's a whole sub section of society wasting away, and it's shocking to see.
Nice drivers
Not only do people generally drive at a normal speed through Vancouver instead of the boy racers back home, people will actually stop for you when trying to cross the road. I realised just after I got here that in some situations if you stand on the side of a busy road, cars in both directions will actually stop and wave you on, sometimes with a smile!
Stupid little dogs
Nope it's not just Paris Hilton. Here in 'Hollywood North' there are a lot of stupid Californian fashions that have made it up the coast, and stupid little dogs in stupid little coats sometimes sitting in stupid little bags are a realtively common sight in areas such as here in Kits. One day I'm going to step on one by accident and squish it's stupid little body.
Freaks
Aaargh! Vancouver is the freak capital of Canada! Every hippie, new-age believer, religious nutcase, conspiricy theorist and general mentalist lives in Vancouver. You will generally end up sitting next to them on the bus. And most of the time they will a) smell, b) have dreadlocks, and c) be carrying some bongos with which to delight unsuspecting members of public.
Things you don't see:
Smoking
You just don't see it very often. There's a smoking ban pretty much everywhere, but you don't see the big groups of people hanging outside buildings in the street smoking. It's not a particular fashionable thing to do. On the other hand Vancouver has a massive amount of 'special' smoking, which goes along with it's hippie roots.
Black people
For all the Asians here, and a fair amount of Indians, there are very few black people. This became even more apparent to me when I went to Seattle, which is very similar to Vancouver in size and geography, but has a pretty big black population. Maybe Canada just hasn't got that many black people in general, or maybe they just don't like Vancouver!
Rubbish boots
Vancouver does have it's own slightly different take on fashion, combining the American love of sportswear with it's own cool but practical outdoor gear. But the main benefit is the lack of rubbish girls' boots that were so popular in the UK. Girls seem to wear a lot of trainers as well as 'ballet pumps'. From a bloke point of view too, you don't see many low-cut tops but you do see a lot of short shorts. It's all about the legs here.
Mounties
If, like me, you ever watched 'Due South', one of your defining images of Canada is the Mountie. However, in 6 months I've only ever seen one in uniform, and he was posing for pictures on Canada Day. I've met a load of Mounties since I've been here, but they're usually just plain-clothed police officers much like the FBI. No red jackets, no brown hats, no riding down the street on a big horse. :-(
Bored Kids
You can't go anywhere in England after school and not see a bunch of bored-looking teenagers sitting around looking to get into some mischief. Vancouver on the other hand, is probably the best place I've ever been to to raise a kid. There's so many cool children's things here that they'll never be bored, and even teenagers look pretty happy what with all the cool sports and activies that are available. I almost wish I could rent a kid out for the day to take it to play on some of the cool kids' stuff scattered around town. Where's my baby niece when I need her?!!
I'm sure there's lots of other stuff I haven't thought of, but I'll try to keep those to myself. Been doing some cool stuff recently so I'll tell you all about it when I have the chance!
Take care,
Jamie
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