Vancouver At Its Finest.

What a beautiful city! But, I have to say that I didn't expect it to be SO vastly different from Seattle. I mean, sure the landscapes are the same and, in general, the "feel" is the same, but the two cities are much more different from each other than I had expected.

I really felt like Vancouver has a very European feel, almost like it is a mix between Europe and the U.S. The stores are different, the $ system is different, the fashion is much more European, it's a bilingual city (French and English), the groceries are different (they don't have many typical American brands), and even some of the rules are different. For example, you cannot take pictures in almost any of the stores, regardless of what you are taking that picture of...

The past weekend was so delightful; I had such a wonderful time with Babe! To begin my brief retelling of the major events, I got to the station on Friday morning only to find that I would be taking a bus, not a train! I was so disappointed, but I figured there was a reason for it. Well, it seemed that there was. I met a great guy on the bus named Josh and we totally hit it off. We was really friendly and he was on his way to Vancouver Island to start a 2 year school for music. Josh and I found that we had a lot in common - for example, he is from Minneapolis and he had taken the train from there to Seattle! Also, he plays professional rugby and the previous month, had just had a tournament in Green Bay! So we talked about the MN state fair and bars in Green Bay and all that random stuff. After chatting a while, we both met another guy named Mike who was also going to Vancouver to get back to school for music. It turned out that Mike and Josh had even more in common than Josh and I did! I am convinced that I was on that bus to connect them - both were a part of the music scene (Mike more so than Josh in Vancouver, so he was going to hook him up), both had pastors as fathers, both had even taken the same train and then, of course, were on the same bus! Weird! We all exchanged contact info and said we'd have to meet up in the future. Totally fun bus ride.

I finally saw Babe waiting for me outside the bus when we got to Vancouver, and it was so great! She was pretty much the same, only her hair was longer, her English better, and her spirit was open! I told her that maybe it was the context or the experiences she had had since I last saw her in France, but I thought that she was more "awake" and alive to opportunities and possibilities. We talked a lot about being different and living in different places versus camp and American Village and what's different and what's the same. We talked about family and saying goodbye and French versus American versus Canadian culture and tradegy and roommates. I have never heard Babe speak so much English in my life. (Keep in mind that the first time I met her, she had never even met a real English speaking person. She barely spoke a word at the beginning and I was one of the hardest to understand, according to her, because I spoke so quickly.) I almost couldn't believe it was the same person.

After I arrived on Friday, we spent the entire afternoon talking and laughing and eating a very traditional French dinner and catching up on the year's events. I met two of her roommates (a very Italian boy and a very Canadian boy) and we drank tea and we had wonderful conversation. To give you an idea of the length and breadth of our discussions, I arrived at about 2:30pm Friday afternoon and we talked until we went to bed at 12:30am. Ten solid hours of chatter.

Saturday morning, we awoke at 9am. I was fairly refreshed, because the night before, I had been exhausted. The time change was and is still playing with my mind. We had a great breakfast (I never knew how good Corn Flakes and bananas in milk could be!) with, again, great conversation and then we decided to spend the day at the mall because of crappy weather. (It was raining and, apparently, that day of rain ended a 29 day dry spell. Babe, I read that in the paper this morning.) We took the Sky Train (like a tram or light rail) to the mall (called Metrotown) and just strode around...I showed Babe American Eagle and Gap (very traditional American stores) and I found a few different, interesting stores of my own...did you know that Zara is in Canada!? I certainly didn't! We had Starbucks (Babe's first frappuccino and my first caffeine high in weeks - oops), explained school systems in France versus the U.S., and then we went to TGI Friday's (Babe's first dinner out and her first taste of a real hamburger - not the "camp" hamburger - and cobb salad). Our dinner on Saturday was probably my most favorite of the weekend; we had stimulating conversation, good food, and we just took our time hanging out and enjoying each other. It was so nice. Afterwards, we went book browsing and then to get some groceries at the Canadian superstore (in the mall) before going to a movie (STEP UP!!!). We also got some mini donuts as a little dessert for ourselves, but they weren't nearly as good as Top Pot. Of course.

The movie was AWESOME (of course, it inspired me to drop all graduate courses to take up professional dancing) and Babe was excited that she actually understood much of the movie. Her English comprehension is very good, but I was also nervous because of the slang and quick speak in the movie...luckily, she really knew what was going on and the movie wasn't heavy on dialogue. It totally worked. Afterwards, we made our way back to her townhouse, but it wasn't easy because there weren't many Sky Trains or buses that were still running. We finally arrived back 14 hours after we left.

We crashed at about 2am to wake up the next morning around 9am. We did the breakfast thing and decided to spend the day downtown (it was finally gorgeous outside) just walking and sight seeing. Well, we didn't totally feel like walking, but we just hung out and laid in the grass and talked and watched the water and enjoyed the day. Very pleasant. We had lunch/dinner at a little cafe on the water and it was Babe's first taste of nachos and a southwest wrap. Then, we got gelato ice cream (her first encounter with this as well) along with some baked goods that Babe had never tried or only tried once (carrot cake, a brownie, and a butterscotch chocolate chip cookie). We had all of these later with Oreo cookies - something that Babe also had never tried. We napped on the grass along the water and were silent for a while, then we made our way back to her campus (which was a good 45 minutes from downtown) on the mountain behind Vancouver. Once at her place, we talked (of course), had dessert, chatted with her roommates (really a good time) and finally made our way up to bed. Again, we were both so exhausted that it really took us no time at all to fall asleep.

This morning, we woke up at 6am to catch the 6:30am bus to the Sky Train. We arrived at the station around 7am and sat to talk for a bit. Finally, I made my way to the bus and we said goodbye! I know it won't be long before I see her again, though. :)

I arrived in Seattle around 11:30am (after an extremely annoying trip with an extremely annoying couple talking extremely loudly and sitting right behind me) and ate lunch to break my $10 and get money for the bus ride home. I was exceedingly irritable and didn't want to talk to anyone. Finally, I got home at about 1:15pm and puttered around my apartment for a bit before falling asleep for 3 hours. I woke up about an hour ago and came to the library to check my email.

So. That was my weekend. Exciting, huh?

Laura, thanks for the comment, thanks for thinking about me! :) I thought Vancouver was really amazing!

I miss y'all. I'll post pictures after I have a chance to download them onto my computer!