A year in Vancouver!

Whatever you want to teach, be brief…

My plan for trying something new every weekend has had to out on hold this weekend due to the arrival of a migraine on Friday which has meant I have spent nearly all weekend asleep. Why do these things always happen at the weekend? It didn’t stop me getting an amazing view of the storm that was brewing late Saturday afternoon and bubbling all through the night. The thunder and lightning were impressive- even by Texas standards, causing the ground the shake. (At least I don’t think it was me shaking). And as the sun started to set the sky was a flaming orange, very dramatic with the mountains in the background! Perched on the window sill feeling safe and secure is definitely the place to watch them from.

I suppose my new adventure for the week is the arrival of my very own, first Canadian pay check. This week I have been tutoring English and Math to a boy who has just finished Grade Seven. After careful consideration I’m definitely enjoying the experience of an older student, and I’m not feeling out of my comfort zone. I wouldn’t like to say I’d take a whole class of them on just yet, but this is certainly fun. Then again he is very well behaved and enthusiastic about what we are doing, and about soccer and Harry Potter, all of which have made an appearance in my carefully selected English texts… I knew there was a reason I spent so many years learning how to teach!

The rest of my time this week has been spent in the never ending frustrations of trying to import a car and change a driving license over, both tasks which should be relatively easy, but as ever, are proving more of a challenge than originally anticipated! I’m sure it must be me being naively and strangely optimistic about these things, but they never seem as smooth as I’m told they are going to be! Maybe by now I should have leaned my lesson and stopped believing the first thing I’m told by government agencies.

Next week, back to the exploring and investigation…

A year in Vancouver!

Having seen all a man could who didn’t dare get out of his ship…
First tourist trip- a guided tour around Vancouver. The plan is to generate a list of things to do each week, to make sure I see and do all the main areas.

I started out with the Sky Train to downtown, which I feel is slightly more local than tourist, but appearances can be deceptive and it wasn’t too long before the camera came out and I was clicking and snapping (with the camera) at anything that moved and most things that didn’t. I have photographs of churches, fountains, trees and beaches and a long list of ideas, places to visit and things to see. I was going to start ticking noteworthy items off my list this afternoon and headed from the bus toward the Marine Building having been informed that it was worth checking out the architecture. However, that plan was soon thwarted as I the building was covered over cordoned off and actors were milling around in front of it. “One of 200 movie or TV shows filmed in Vancouver each year” or so I’m informed by a bus tour system J

With that plan on the back burner for a week or so I headed over to Canada place to marvel at the size of the cruise ships in the docks. It really amazes me how anything that size can be conceived, and what a huge undertaking each one is. With the sun bright, the sky blue, the shore glittering across the bay, the sea planes taking off and the cruise ships in the harbour I really was finding Vancouver an incredibly pleasant place to be.

Lunch was a laid back affair at the Cactus Club Café, another of my plans being finding different places to eat on a weekly basis, although I do tend to get drawn back to old favorites, so I’m not sure how long that one will last. And if you ever find yourself in their I can highly recommend the salmon.

My local adventure for the week was to join the library, which has to be the least touristy thing possible. Entering and joining the library was surprisingly straight forward, it was leaving that caused me some issues. I have obviously spent far too long in my car recently as I approached the barrier with caution, stopped and waited. It didn’t automatically lift, so I took a few steps back and tried a bit more slowly. Again it didn’t lift. I stood and waited a few minutes, then realized that people were starting to look at me in a slightly odd way. I tentatively reached out an arm, and no, still the barrier wouldn’t lift, it was about this time that I realized it was a push barrier and not automatic. Possibly not smarter than a fifth grader then!

So, with a map in my head (don’t laugh), or the very least the Sat. Nav. and a library book I’ve some highlighted spots (no I haven’t written in the book) to visit, I’m going to mix the tourist with the local, and see where I end up next week… I may even master opening doors.

A year in Vancouver!

It is better to trust in courage than luck…

Documenting the drive up here proved more enjoyable and popular than I had anticipated. So, I thought I’d continue in the same vein and post a new note each week on new experiences, at the very least it will keep my parents happy and save the frantic phone calls when I realize that I haven’t been that great at keeping in touch.

Having finally navigated US customs and managed to get my car back, I’m now facing the next challenge- registering it in Canada. In theory this should be easy, but as with most things I’m discovering what a reliance I had on the internet. Usually I would Google search the forms, the places I need to be, and the whole process, if not smooth, would at least have a certain procedure to it. Without the internet I’m kind of at loss of where to start. Luckily, I will be reconnected to both the internet and the phone network tomorrow! Having survived nine whole days without either I’m looking forward to interacting with the cyber community again! Although, I have started to wonder how people functioned without either, or how much extra work we create for ourselves by being so available!

So, the apartment is starting to resemble something vaguely habitable, I have gotten creative and started sewing cushion covers to match new cupboard doors. Never a good thing! When I get creative small children run for cover….

And life generally seems to be returning to a routine and pattern. I have found the gym, although the altitude is higher than I’m used to, and I’m still not sure about running up hills- I’d forgotten all about the delights of hills in Houston. I’ve found a park, and for now the sun is shining and all on the horizon looks exciting and busy.

I’m now off to buy a phone so the man from Shaw can install it for me (apparently not just plugging it into the wall) and I will be back in the world of technology!

Quotes across the continent!

Second Star to the Right and Straight on until Morning…

I’ll be back...
I spent a huge portion of today wondering on the meaning of road signs, or at least the thoughts behind the people that decide what to write! Why are you fined $93.00 for littering in Oregon? Wouldn’t it make more sense to round it up to $100.00? However, my favorite signs of the day have to be as you pass into Washington State- Apple Quarantine (how does that work?) and the Department of Aquatics have banned the trans-state transportation of water bred life forms.

One of my main bewilderments of the day was over “chin up parking”. This really did play on my mind for a while, and having nothing else to occupy my time was starting to become a concern. Having watched the arrival time on the Sat Nav increase as I was sat in traffic, or felt my heart sink on being told to stay on the I-82 for 515 miles (at which I was to bear left, and continue on the I-82 for 72 miles) I was beginning to understand the need for such a parking facility. What I was struggling with was that there would be so many others who felt the same. Clarity came around mid afternoon- after about 9 hours in the car- when I actually managed to read the sign correctly. Chain up parking! What a difference an “a” makes. I totally understand the need for so many people to want to stop and put snow chains on there wheels! I’m not sure I understand why you are supposed to have them in your car at all times, it was 97F today, not sure there was much chance of snow. And to all those who told me Vancouver is just like Seattle, but a bit colder and a bit wetter… today is the first day since leaving Houston that I haven’t been caught in a storm and a torrential downpour, and Washington has had the hottest temperatures than anywhere except Houston! I was looking forward to those cooler fronts.

Thinking back over the last few days, I can’t believe it has taken me four years to make it up this far in a car! The scenery has been spectacular and awe inspiring. It has already prompted thoughts of a return. I’m certainly not through with living the American Dream, just taking a sabbatical for a while, I always thought I’d like to return to California, but having experienced all that this trip has to offer Colorado and Utah could now be in contention too. Possibilities to be explored…

But, not until the next adventure is playing out, and with tonight being my last in the US, that starts tomorrow.

Quotes across the continent!

Second Star to the Right and Straight on until Morning…

A rose by any other name…
Yes, I was back on the US 287 again! Although this time it cunningly tried to disguise itself as the La Porte Bypass. And true to form, it was still stunningly beautiful; this time I had learned my lesson, taken precautions and filled up with gas before I even started so hit cruise control and enjoyed the scenery.

I had forgotten how outstandingly gorgeous it really was. Mountains rising up in the background, brilliant blue skies, white clouds, perfect undulating hills and the road winding uninterrupted through it all.

However, I did soon switch to the freeway, and my heart sank as the Sat Nav- I had been on speaking terms to for a bit, decided to shut up for the next 432 miles. That was a long stretch of interstate. Luckily the scenery through Wyoming and Utah more than matched and held its own with the precedent set by Colorado.

Today, a mere eight hours passed in a blur or gorgeous beauty. I have developed a love for cruise control, although I did wonder if this function is now taught in Driver’s ED. It is so far away from driving the manual four speed gearbox, manual choke, no power assisted brakes or steering that I learned in, it is almost like a completely new activity. All I ask it that no one else on the road use it, or if they are they set it to the exact same speed and stay a reasonable distance from. The ones that are a mile or two different than mine can really be quite irritating.

On the whole today has been a pleasant experience. Not quite good enough to wipe out the horror and daunting dread I feel at the 15 hour haul to come tomorrow- but enough to leave me smiling tonight.

Quotes across the continent!

Second Star to the Right and Straight on until Morning…

Colorful Colorado
(Or we’re not in Kansas any more)
The state that matches my language today.

Mon Dieu! If you ever find yourself on the US 287 know that you are in for awesome sights, very few gas stations and pack plenty of food.

As for my journey today…

The disagreement I had with my Sat Nav yesterday continued this morning. It ‘cleverly” calculated the time zone change into its arrival time before I even left. So whilst I was merrily expecting a 12 hour drive today, the Sat Nav had its own evil plan. We would hardly be on speaking terms now, expect I have no one else to talk to, and it only deigns to speak once every 300 miles or so anyway. Not that an extra hour between friends is usually a problem, just that I realized this one when I was 70 miles from a gas station, and rather than have 20 minutes to my destination I had an hour and 20 minutes. Panic set in.

However, that was the least of the exciting events for the day; having decided that driving my car was indeed the wise and sensible option to save buying a new one I am now a little concerned that it isn’t going to make it in one piece. The usual whistles and rattles are swiftly dealt with, turn the CD up, open the window and the like. The small scrape and dent is slightly harder to ignore, and is entirely down to me- the graze down the side panel and the dent in the passenger door (now you’re glad you weren’t sat there Zo!) are due to a flying wheel. I understand it is common place to tow a Jeep behind an F250. But I’ve never come across one before in which first the bolt holding the spare wheel in place maliciously throws itself at my windshield, followed by a kamikaze tire launching itself into my door! At least only the car sustained repairable damage.

Oklahoma deserves a mention for being completely mundane and beautifully uneventful. The scenery was magnificent, the weather was frightening energetic, and the tumble weed was just what was needed to make me smile at this point in the trip.

Anyway, 1100 miles down, another 1400 to go….

Salt Lake City tomorrow.

Quotes across the continent!

Second Star to the Right and Straight on until Morning…

Houston, we have a problem…
And it wasn’t the size of my car compared to the amount of luggage I had. Despite initial misgivings this actually worked out reasonably well. All the luggage went into the car, even leaving a chocolate sized gap between the bags. I faired slightly less well, sustaining a few knocks and bruises trying to jam everything in.

No, the problem was leaving the city on the I-45 at rush hour on a major holiday weekend and thinking I would actually arrive anywhere on time!

Despite traffic jams, sat nav failure, exploding drinks, traffic accidents and horrendous one way systems I did eventually arrive. What should have been a four hour journey taking nearly six. (I’m not holding out much hope for the 11 hours trek tomorrow!)

I did also ponder a few of life’s driving anomalies… who did devise one way systems, and has anyone ever encountered one that actually works? How come my car is so clever it can alter the radio volume to accommodate road noise, alter the acceleration to overcome inclines when on cruise control but is so uncomfortable to sit in after 2 hours? When does day become night for speed limit purposes?

Hopefully answers tomorrow… much more pondering time available.