Vancouverview

Here’s what happened on the Vancouver trip, from which I returned a few weeks ago. Dates: June 9-22

• Layovers in PHL going and PHX returning
• 9-11 people in a 3BR apartment in Richmond at any given time.
• Slept on the couch so people could keep bags in my parents’ room and I could have peace/quiet.
• Met grandmother and aunt. I can only hope that I’ll get a chance to see them again.
• Ate lots of Persian food, including traditional-style breakfasts of bread and cheese each a.m.
• Grandmother (mamabazorgk) likes to get up early and do the dishes so I would awake early some days
• Took lots and lots of pictures. Man did I take a lot of pictures.
• Picnicked at Deep Cove with cuz’s hubby’s fam
• Played with the kids, who are at that age where they are very apt to act like toddlers because they are.
• Followed cuz’s hubby whenever we drove
• Paid a lot for gas, man oh man did we pay. Good thing we didn’t drive much.
• We could walk to the mall and some stores. Grocery shopping nearly every day, multiple times.
• Watched Euro Cup. Man oh man.
• Listened to Farsi conversations and tried to pick up on some words.
• Took the tram up Grouse Mountain where we saw dueling lumberjacks, bears playing in the snow and a great view overlooking B.C.
• Spent a lot of time bumming around downtown and counting Starbuck’s stores.
• Went to White Rock (near the U.S.-Canada border) to spend time in the quirky beachside town
• Shopped a little at Granville Public Market and gawked at the bridges (and got a bit lost)
• Took the ferry to Vancouver Island and drove to Victoria, which is a must-see if you go to BC.
• Ate at a Shanghai-style Chinese restaurant. I think I like this better than typical Mandarin fare.
• Shanghai-style is like Dim Sum, etc. Restaurants like this are popular in BC.
• There are a lot of Chinese people in BC and our apartment building lacked a 4th/14th floor because 4 is bad luck.
• We visited not the Capilano Suspension Bridge but a smaller, free version at Lynn Creek. It was really nice but I get nervous about heights.
• The bridge was very crowded and people would stop in the middle and you’d have to go around them.
• If the bridge started to sway you could try to shift the balance back over by moving around.
• It is a very old bridge, but they say it’s safe, so why not go. The view of the falls way down below is gorge-ous. Hahahaha, I crack myself up.
• And I stopped at Tim Horton’s in the airport on the way back and enjoyed it. I still have some donuts with me now… they’re totally gross at this point.
• YVR has lots of totem pole-type things in it to honor the aboriginal population.
• Aborigines is the CA term for natives or Indians. They have an Aboriginal Achievement Awards show.
• I heard someone say “Eh!” at the end of a sentence. Even in BC they do that.
• I learned some words in Farsi. Such as: Yek, do, se, sohb bekheh, balley, nah, gghhubeh, and at one point I could say “lamp” and “boy” and “girl.” I think I still recall all the different types of aunts and uncles.
• Farsi is structured like Spanish in some ways. I should go back and try to learn. It’s sad that I know more Spanish than the language of my homeland.
• I have many personal goals… more on that later.
• It was a good trip. Occasionally I freaked out about all the people and how hot it sometimes got in our apartment and how I couldn’t get to sleep or whatever but in the end, none of that matters. What matters is that it happened and you did what you could to make it happen.

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