The week thus far..

Friday morning.. And it's safe the say that this is probably the most productive week on my entire life. From settling in on Day 1 to a room that had a dismantled desk and a half-made bed.. To now having a complete room, to having a phone sorted (and, consequently, joining the horde of iPhone legion), a laptop and having my room set up just the way I like it.

On Wednesday I had a trapse around our local area. The surrounding scenery behind Vancouver is just absolutely breathtaking. You can see the mountain ranges and the snow villages from just about anywhere. I'm still trying to identify which is which.. But when I see Whistler, I stop and wave at my friends that are currently trapped living there.

Cnr West Broadway and Fir st. Our local Timmys and Gym w/ accompanying backdrop

The nearby streets are immaculately spotless. The architechure of everywhere around here is just so fresh and unique as well, ranging from timeless classic houses/apartment blocks to monstrous glass modern buildings that looked like they were designed by Swedes on acid. The trees and wildlife are cool as well. 

What completely took me by surprise is the presence of cherry blossoms (my favorite tree)..

The weather has been as cold as expected, but not as evil as I was anticipating, which is nice. It's like constantly being in a Sydney winter. It rained the first 2 days, but for the rest of this week the sun has been out. The cold breeze is to be expected, but it ranges from subtle and discreet, to gale-like. Either way - it's not invasive. In my opinion the weather has been perfect - god knows I'm sick to death of humidity and 20+ degrees.

On Wednesday (St Patties day) I took it easy, due to having been on my feet for the past few days and still being completely and utterly jetlagged to death. It was a good opportunity to set up and play with my new iPhone and take in some local TV and dining. TSN (the sports channel) focuses so heavily on hockey that it makes my heart sing.

My housemate, Ryan, and I went to Costco that evening and bought some groceries. I was absolutely gobsmacked to finally find Reeses cereal. It's like eating Reeses candy - but for breakfast! You don't know how badly I'd wanted peanut butter/chocolate-based cereal until now.

Went to a local restaurant/pub and got some typical pub food (Burgers, nachoes etc which heavily outclassed any pub food I've had in Brisbane). Met my first few rounds of locals as well. Everybody is absolutely friendly as hell! It doesn't matter what situation you're in (wether waiting in line at Timmys or sitting next to a stranger at a bar) everybody is smiling and ready for a chat. Suffice to say, the closest thing I've come to a rude person here was somebody trying to get passed me on the escalator.. "scuse!" (I accidentally stood on the left, which is the norm in Australia.. But in Canada, everyone stands on the right).

That night was Saint Patties day, so we gout our Guiness on at the *other* local pub and met up with one of Ryans mates - a girl named Dee. The pub eventually got ridiculously packed while we all sat around the table and discussed cultural differences. I got my linguistics up to speed (IE: Pronouncing 'Quebec' properly) and got a taste of the local dialect. After too many Guinesses and Lucky Charms (don't ask) we stumbled back to our apartment and I got to finally appreciate just how close we live to everything.

Yesterday I got around to finally exploring Downtown Vancouver (where the meat and bones of the city is). And unfortunately, I had left my camera behind. First thing was first, getting my social security number (success) and then hitting up the Winter Olympic megastore. The store was busy as hell and filled with EVERYTHING Olympic-related! Everything that is except for Team Canada hockey jerseys. They had toddler sizes though, so I grabbed one for my little brother ;)

The size of all the buildings, posters and monuments are truly epic in every sense of the word. Buildings were plastered with Godzilla-size pictures of Canadian Olympians and GO CANADA GO logos. It's safe to say that you can't go 3 metres without running into a Canadian flag or Maple Leaf. These people truly are patriotic in every sense of the word, and you know it's not based on xenophobia at all (*cough* CronullaSouthernCross *cough*). Unfortunately the Art Gallery had a huuuge line out the front, all of which should die down when the Olympics are over, so I'll go and fully explore what Downtown has to offer when that happens..

Also passed the 'nightlife' district of Downtown. One place 'Venue' had their upcoming artists for the month and I nearly spat my coffee out when I saw who was playing.. Electric Six next week.. RJD2.. Jamie Cullum.. Tech N9ne.. Rob Zombie.. Hawthorne Heights.. Angels & Airwaves all just to name a few that stuck out in my head.

Last night Ryan took me out to dinner at his familys place at White Rock, which is the lower lands. Not quite Vancouver. I can't describe the area without repeating myself already.. But basically it looks like a residential scenery that you'd find in some US show based in the mountains, or like Northern Exposure (but not quite). I'll get pics.. Suffice to say, his mum, his sister and her boyfriend are all lovely people. His mum served up a delicious homecooked meal of BBQ ribs and various vegetables and breads (yummm). Then we all sat down with a beer in the loungeroom and watched the San Jose Sharks vs Vancouver Canucks NHL game that was occuring. Listening to Ryans mum talk about hockey was like listening to my mum talk about AFL, she knew every player and commented on plays that occured.. It was foreign to me, but OH SO AWESOME!

Today has been a constructive write-off. Having only just acquired my laptop yesterday, I've been spending most of the day setting it up and getting my old data off the portable HDD and uploading photos. It's not even lunchtime yet though, so there'll be some more jobseeking and topping the evening off with holding a mixer at our apartment. This saturday we're heading down to the city and going on a zipline over the city, followed going to a concert that night to see one of Ryans' and his friends favorite local bands and possibly heading to Whistler on sunday for a glimpse of the snow village life!