Tourist Activities.
I haven’t posted for a couple days because we haven’t really been doing much and I pretty much spent yesterday being hungover (and feeling gross after my Denny’s breakfast) and sleeping for 12 hours last night. We went on the hostel-run pub crawl on Monday night and met a few people who were on the Club Night which was pretty cool. Though the pub crawl consisted of 2 Irish pubs and a really really rubbish club-type place. I had a decent night though so can’t complain.
We decided since we’ve only been here a week and haven’t really done anything too touristy that today would be the day for tourist activities and unfolding giant maps on sidewalks. So we got up early and walked through Stanley Park to the Aquarium. We met a Swedish guy called Martin (we think) on one of the hostel-organised pub crawls and he’s staying in the same room as Greg so he came along with us. We got there just in time for the beluga whale talk so saw that. The belugas look so smug all the time because they have muscley lips and there was a grey baby one that was really cute. Then we went and saw the sea otters which were pretty cute and Debbie totally fancies them so if at any point I don’t mention seeing the sea otters you can pretty much assume that’s what we did before doing anything else. The dolphin show was alright but I’ve already seen a dolphin show this year so it wasn’t all that. They were some pacific white-sided dolphin or something though and kinda looked like tapirs so I was a bit impressed. After that we wandered round the rest of the aquarium and saw some cool jellyfish, some reptiles and a sloth!! The sloth keeper was feeding the sloth apple on a stick because the sloths enclosure was being redone and the sloth was feeling a bit stressed out. Wish someone would feed me with a stick. All in all the aquarium was pretty cool and a good start for our tourist activities.
Once we’d left, we headed to the totem poles in Stanley Park which weren’t that far from the aquarium. They are pretty cool if you keep in mind they were carved by someone, and I do think all that ‘first native’ art is awesome. But the price of all the stuff in the gift shop is ridiculous and kinda undermines the whole experience. Nevermind.
We got back from doing all of that stuff around half 2 and hung around on the slow slow internet for a while but then I had to go get ready for my first Canadian job interview. It was at the J.J. Beans in Yaletown. J.J. Beans is a chain of coffee shops that are in the Vancouver area and they also sell coffee wholesale to various cafes and restaurants. The Yaletown branch is pretty swish because Yaletown is near all the downtown businesses but is more ‘trendy’ so it’s kinda like all the cool places in Leith. It wasn’t so much a job interview as they have at home, more of a really informal chat which included some questions about what I’d done coffee-shop-wise in the past and some information about the chain and branch. We seemed to get on pretty well and he said he’d get back to me on Saturday. I’m not sure if I want to work there though because, although it seems like a really cool place, I’m not sure if the people who work there are going to be too cool to give me the time of day or whatnot. We’ll see if I get offered the job yet I guess!
I returned to the hostel after that feeling a bit shakey from the black coffee I felt I should drink to prove my ‘passion for coffee’ and met Debbie and Greg. We went for dinner in another diner-type place and I had a turkey sandwich that was effectively a Christmas dinner on toast with fries. It was pretty tasty though and we went for a couple beers afterwards. Which brings me to my current situation; sitting in bed typing this in MS Word because the internet’s not fast enough to load blogger. I’ll post it when it is though and yous can all breathe a sigh of relief as you’re kept updated on my experiences. Lucky little critters.
Tomorrow I intend to do the things I’ve failed to do so far such as put money in my Canadian bank account, check to see if my Social Insurance Number is at the SWAP Office, print some CVs (resumes) and do some Christmas shopping. I’m going to strive to get presents home in time but I have to post them by December 8th if that’s going to happen and I haven’t looked for anything yet so late presents might be on the cards. Sorry guys. I also quite fancy doing some shopping for myself since I don’t think I brought enough clothes but we’ll see what my funds permit. It’s been an expensive week! Plus if you take tax and tips into account it’s more expensive for drink here, even if foods cheap and you get loads!
Anyway, that’s pretty much all. So I’ll update here next time I do something exciting.
I haven’t posted for a couple days because we haven’t really been doing much and I pretty much spent yesterday being hungover (and feeling gross after my Denny’s breakfast) and sleeping for 12 hours last night. We went on the hostel-run pub crawl on Monday night and met a few people who were on the Club Night which was pretty cool. Though the pub crawl consisted of 2 Irish pubs and a really really rubbish club-type place. I had a decent night though so can’t complain.
We decided since we’ve only been here a week and haven’t really done anything too touristy that today would be the day for tourist activities and unfolding giant maps on sidewalks. So we got up early and walked through Stanley Park to the Aquarium. We met a Swedish guy called Martin (we think) on one of the hostel-organised pub crawls and he’s staying in the same room as Greg so he came along with us. We got there just in time for the beluga whale talk so saw that. The belugas look so smug all the time because they have muscley lips and there was a grey baby one that was really cute. Then we went and saw the sea otters which were pretty cute and Debbie totally fancies them so if at any point I don’t mention seeing the sea otters you can pretty much assume that’s what we did before doing anything else. The dolphin show was alright but I’ve already seen a dolphin show this year so it wasn’t all that. They were some pacific white-sided dolphin or something though and kinda looked like tapirs so I was a bit impressed. After that we wandered round the rest of the aquarium and saw some cool jellyfish, some reptiles and a sloth!! The sloth keeper was feeding the sloth apple on a stick because the sloths enclosure was being redone and the sloth was feeling a bit stressed out. Wish someone would feed me with a stick. All in all the aquarium was pretty cool and a good start for our tourist activities.
Once we’d left, we headed to the totem poles in Stanley Park which weren’t that far from the aquarium. They are pretty cool if you keep in mind they were carved by someone, and I do think all that ‘first native’ art is awesome. But the price of all the stuff in the gift shop is ridiculous and kinda undermines the whole experience. Nevermind.
We got back from doing all of that stuff around half 2 and hung around on the slow slow internet for a while but then I had to go get ready for my first Canadian job interview. It was at the J.J. Beans in Yaletown. J.J. Beans is a chain of coffee shops that are in the Vancouver area and they also sell coffee wholesale to various cafes and restaurants. The Yaletown branch is pretty swish because Yaletown is near all the downtown businesses but is more ‘trendy’ so it’s kinda like all the cool places in Leith. It wasn’t so much a job interview as they have at home, more of a really informal chat which included some questions about what I’d done coffee-shop-wise in the past and some information about the chain and branch. We seemed to get on pretty well and he said he’d get back to me on Saturday. I’m not sure if I want to work there though because, although it seems like a really cool place, I’m not sure if the people who work there are going to be too cool to give me the time of day or whatnot. We’ll see if I get offered the job yet I guess!
I returned to the hostel after that feeling a bit shakey from the black coffee I felt I should drink to prove my ‘passion for coffee’ and met Debbie and Greg. We went for dinner in another diner-type place and I had a turkey sandwich that was effectively a Christmas dinner on toast with fries. It was pretty tasty though and we went for a couple beers afterwards. Which brings me to my current situation; sitting in bed typing this in MS Word because the internet’s not fast enough to load blogger. I’ll post it when it is though and yous can all breathe a sigh of relief as you’re kept updated on my experiences. Lucky little critters.
Tomorrow I intend to do the things I’ve failed to do so far such as put money in my Canadian bank account, check to see if my Social Insurance Number is at the SWAP Office, print some CVs (resumes) and do some Christmas shopping. I’m going to strive to get presents home in time but I have to post them by December 8th if that’s going to happen and I haven’t looked for anything yet so late presents might be on the cards. Sorry guys. I also quite fancy doing some shopping for myself since I don’t think I brought enough clothes but we’ll see what my funds permit. It’s been an expensive week! Plus if you take tax and tips into account it’s more expensive for drink here, even if foods cheap and you get loads!
Anyway, that’s pretty much all. So I’ll update here next time I do something exciting.
A random statue of Rabbie Burns in Stanley Park
A beluga whale
A sea otter sleeping with a ball on it's tummy
Me, Debbie and our new Swedish friend
A dolphin looking like a tapir with a hoop on it's nose
SEAHORSES!!!!
The worst thing you could ever see when you look up and you're swimming
The worst thing you could ever see when you look up and you're Steve Irwin
Some weird wormy things that look like light fixtures from Ikea
Token aquarium fish picture
A catfish
A green tree boa
A sloth!!
Some fine photography, even if I do say so myself
Starfish
A jellyfish
Lotsa jellyfish
A few jellyfish
A couple jellyfish of a different sort
One jellyfish/Squishy from Finding Nemo
Debbie in a tank
Greg in a tank
A sleeping gecko
Me at the Orca fountain outside the aquarium
The totem poles in Stanley Park
The rest of the totem poles in Stanley Park
1 comment:
oh the obligatory head in a tank pic. i cant believe the otter couple holding paws are no more, they were the cutest thing ever!
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