I've been busy! I swear! For some reason, this is the only thing I've been procrastinating on. I know when I start writing, it'll take me a while to wrap up. You all know how that goes from reading my other posts, I assume. But still, I don't really have an excuse, I even fixed the walls in my apartment and re-painted a couple times after moving in. This is just the one thing I've put off this long since moving here.
Haha! It's January! 2014! I can't believe I've only been here for four months. On the one hand it feels like forever because of all the stuff I've packed into it. And on the other hand it feels like nothing, because I still feel like a complete newcomer here.
Oooook, quick synopsis time of
1) how I've spent my time from August to now
2) what I'm up to now
3) my feelings about Vancouver
1) After the east coast, wedding in a barn in Albany and hanging out with mah girlz Citlali in New York and Lynashley in Philly, I went back to SF for a week and hung out before moving to Vancouver.
My shit did not show up until two weeks after I moved into my place here, which does not seem like a long time but it's a longer time when you are trying to organize things and you're still sleeping on the loveseat in the living room that isn't actually attached but rather the two parts slowly creep further apart from each other as you sleep.
Moving on - I signed up for a bunch of stuff before I actually moved here so I would get a jump on meeting people and not be so depressed about leaving SF by being busy. So here is what my schedule looked like these past few months:
Monday: ultimate frisbee
Tuesday: Cantonese class
Wednesday: climb top-rope
Thursday: swing dancing class
Friday: boulder
Weekend: whatever, motherfucker!
E.O. came to visit in October for Thanksgiving and we had a great time walking alll over Vancouver and breaking into the UBC botanical garden's treetop walk. Back then it was still mostly sunny with a nip in the air.
In November (I think) it got really cold (-7 Celsius) briefly and I was unhappy. But now it's been around 10 degrees and not even raining, so I'm trying to enjoy it even though I hardly ever see the sun. I just keep reminding myself it's January and this is supposed to be the most depressing month.
At the beginning of December I saw my family in Edmonton for early Christmas, because Marc, Tol, and Craig planned to come visit me over Christmas. Only two of them made it. Apparently Craig did not realize Canada is not YET officially the 51st state and even Americans need a passport to get in. Crrrraig.
Anyway, Marc and Tol and I went up to Whistler for a few days and then spent a few days eating Chinese food in Richmond. We even got together with a friend of ours from SF who was visiting Vancouver for a couple days, and she brought us to a Chinese food court and fed us. Nom nom.
Then I went with the boys back to SF for New Year's because I hate New Year's most of all and I knew I would have fun with them, and I did. I met a bunch of people, ate, drank, saw Craig, and fell asleep playing Settlers of Catan. Great success.
The great part about being in SF was that I was in SF. It was beautiful and sunny and I got to go for a drive and see pretty houses in Pac Heights and see the skyline from the Golden Gate Bridge and walk along the beach at Crissy Field. The bad part about being in SF was that it was only for two days and being there made me want to see my friends really badly. Also, it made me want to move back, but let's forget about that for now.
But it's so close! How could I not just fly there for a weekend sometime! Or maybe every weekend! But a) I have to wait until volunteering on the weekend finishes in March and b) flights are still a minimum of a few hundred bucks, so I can't reeeeally go every weekend. But! I did book one flight in April and one in May to go back and visit my people in SF.
2) So what am I up to now, back in rainy, dark, cold Vancouver? Well, the same stuff as I mentioned before, plus I am volunteering as a ski instructor for disabled kids for nine weeks on Grouse Mountain on Sundays now. Yay! My roommate Tiffany has done it for a couple years and I thought it sounded good. I've only done training so far, but it's just nice to be up on the mountain and out of the city for most of a day. Plus, we get a free lift ticket for the day when we volunteer, and free ski/snowboard lessons. I don't have any experience working with people with disabilities, either, and I just started skiing last year really so I could use experience in that too!
I also want to volunteer with a senior on Saturdays if I can. My Oma lives in Ontario right now and she spends most days on her own, which sucks. I don't even call her that often. It'd be nice if someone would go to visit her and hang out. So I'd like to do that here if I can. Plus, I like old people. And I have that free day to fill up, still. :P
Uhhhhm so yeah. Why am I doing so much stuff, you might ask? Well, I feel like I'm getting old and I still don't know anything about anything. And moving here meant that I was single and friendless, so it was a good time to put all my spare time to good use. I've designated this year as a learning year, so I want to try new things and get better at older things and really try to use my time to accomplish things. And I've done ok so far, which is why this blog post being on my to-do list for so long has really annoyed me.
Moving into a new place always takes a while to settle in, especially if you're working full-time - there just seem to be a million little errands to do. I really like all my activities, but I feel like I haven't explored the city very much. Maybe when it starts getting nicer out, I will make it a goal to get out every weekend and see a new thing in the city. I'd also like to start biking, and that's an awesome way to get to know a new city! (I brought my lovely bike from SF but it's mostly been too cold and/or rainy to go out.)
I also have a long list of books to read and movies and TV to watch. That's a little harder to schedule, and really, it's no fun if you schedule it anyway. So I'm not getting very far on those lists. I'm now trying to read on my lunch hour and on my commute, and because some of my stuff hasn't started yet this year, I've been watching Netflix more at night.
Blah! Blah! Blah!
3) Moving on to my impressions of Vancouver, based on the news:
1) Someone is always lost/getting rescued on the North Shore mountains
2) Someone is probably dying skiing or on a hike
3) A lot about oil pipelines
4) A lot of gang members getting murdered
5) Pedestrians are always getting hit by cars
6) Females are getting sexually assaulted... all the time.
Ok, I wasn't going to go on a tirade about this, but since moving here I have read about a TON of sexual assaults happening. I'm sure it's no worse than any other place, but on the other hand, there was a guy going around grabbing girls on the UBC campus in the fall, about six separate times, and he never got caught.
I was walking on the UBC campus with E.O. when he came to visit and we talked about the dynamic between girls and guys that's like: guys try to break through to talk to the girl, girls have to put up a wall to protect themselves, guys have to try harder to break through. Yes, it sucks. But when you read about all these sexual assaults happening in broad daylight in public places (not that ones at night in non-public places are any more acceptable), that's just what happens. It makes me angry that it has to be that way, but females are still not safe, and we have to be wary of men - all men that we don't know.
The last case I read was of a Japanese exchange student here who was helped by a man in buying her Skytrain ticket. He then grabbed her and sexually assaulted her. I can tell you that if a strange man offered to "help" me with something, I would probably feel uncomfortable and tell him that I was fine. I can also tell you that if I saw a man go over to a girl who didn't know what she was doing (especially someone who didn't speak English as a first language) and try to help her, I would probably keep an eye on the situation just to make sure she was ok. It really makes me angry that that has to be the case, but that is indeed the case. And you all know me, and how many guy friends I have, and how I'm not really a fearful person.
It makes me sad, too, that that girl's experience of Canada is now tainted forever by that man, who, as far as I know, hasn't been found yet. And there are multiple cases of this every day.
As to a slightly different instance where girls feel they have to protect themselves, I direct you to online dating! Here's a good story about a guy who made a profile as a girl to see how it was and ended up feeling pretty shitty about the whole thing.
http://www.reddit.com/r/TwoXChromosomes/comments/1uqym6/as_a_guy_i_wanted_to_know_what_it_was_like_to_be/
And on a slightly different note again, I just read this on Jezebel and thought "yup." Talking about how men often take up more physical space than women:
"We can all relate. One of the worst memories I have is riding the subway when I was 15 years old, watching a man across from me spread his legs like an Olympic gymnast and stare directly into my eyes.
For her, this has been the way to take back the power she's lost the countless times she's been in situations where a man has overtaken her physical space. For women, that's a real thing that happens all the time. Like that guy in line at the Target who was moving WAY too close to me today while the checker was ringing me up. I don't know if he's just some impatient asshole who's in a hurry to get home, or if he's some psycho nutjob who is trying to read my address off my I.D. Yeah. Those are things women think about in situations like that."
http://jezebel.com/meet-the-orthodox-woman-behind-move-the-fuck-over-bro-1501688008Yup.
Moving on...
So, January. Pretty much the worst month, always, in my opinion. Christmas break is over, it's dark, and no matter how much fun you're having in general, it's still dark. There's just not much other than Netflix and popcorn snuggle sessions on your couch to take that pain away.
I realize I didn't really talk about my feelings about Vancouver, so let's just say "I need to get to know it better before passing any judgments."
So... now that I've finished my to-do list for tonight, I think that's just what I'm going to head off to do.
Ta-ta! Come visit! ... Later, when it's sunnier.
Love you! Thanks for reading :)
