Another abysmally short post this week I’m afraid. Work is going okay – I’ve been asked to stay on for a few more weeks and the house-hunting is on the backburner for a couple of weeks. Yesterday I managed to head out to do some shopping when it was a little sunny but I had to rethink my plans for a walk today when it started to rain, again. I thoroughly intend to take some photos next week, even if it’s just of downtown Vancouver. I’ll scour my guidebook for things I can do after work one day.
On the plus side though the writing is going well and I have some short stories finished and am well on my way to finishing the novel.
Another short one again this week. The weather has been fairly dreadful – constant rain with intermittent gloom – so I haven’t wanted to go out and do too much adventuring. Work is still going okay and I’ve been asked to stay on a bit longer which is good. Not so good is that I now have to move out the place I’m staying a lot earlier than I was expecting too – end of April – so the long round of searching for accommodation starts again…
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Hello again! Not much to report this week. I’ve mainly been working. It’s going okay so far and it’s nice to finally have some money coming in rather than going out! The office is downtown so it’s easy to get to and to still see things during my lunch break if I want to. Of course the big story here is that the Olympics have finally started. And thanks to the good position of the office I managed to see the Olympic torch pass by, pic below. It was very exciting and definitely got me more in the mood for the Olympics – I’ve been watching events off and on over the weekend, though it’s a shame Team GB isn’t doing a bit better.
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This week hasn’t been terribly touristy, though I have been busy. First major news is that one of the temping agencies I’m signed with has sorted me a job for the next three weeks, which I start properly tomorrow. Certainly good news on the financial front. And it’s been my first week at my accommodation which I think I’m starting to settle into. Though the total quiet is taking a bit of getting used to – I’m used to people moving about and cars on the road outside, rather than this.
I have managed to explore some of the nature trails and parks around the North Vancouver area I’m living in though which is certainly one good thing about living here – nature really is on your doorstep.
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Yes, I know, I’m a day late. I had every intention of posting yesterday but I had lots to do, seeing as I finally have some accommodation (in a nice area of North Vancouver) that I moved into today and am currently writing this post from! Hurrah. One less thing to worry about.
So what have I been up to this week? Job-hunting, of course, though I’m not sure how far I’m getting with it, despite the couple of interviews I’ve been on.
I have been on some touristy excursions though, in order to break up the monotony of job searching.
I took the ferry over to Vanier Park, the area where their are quite a lot of museums. The views were stunning, even if the weather was a little cloudy that day.
The ferry drops you off right in the middle of part of the Maritime Museum’s display of boats/ships (I didn’t actually go to the Maritime Museum this time round, not having enough time). I did take a brief wander around the boats and was impressed by the replica viking ship, but otherwise most of them were quite modern vessels or being done-up by their owners, so not of much interest to me.
After this I went first for a walk around the park, then backtracked and headed over to Kitsilano Beach (the sun had come out and the weather was quite warm by this point). As always in Vancouver there was plenty of artwork on display.
I believe the second pic is supposed to represent freezing water.
After my walking adventure I headed first to the Vancouver museum, purportedly about the history of Vancouver. On arrival I was told that the exhibitions on show this time were on taxidermy (a subject which freaks me out a little) and crafts. I bit the bullet and went to the taxidermy exhibit first, which yes, was a little too creepy for my tastes. Though there were a couple of interesting displays.
I then moved on to the craft section, which was much more to my liking. It exhibited a wide range of items from clothing, to ornaments, to jewellery made by local craftspeople and Korean crafts as well. (It was joint exhibit but exactly why Korea and Canada were joined up for it, I couldn’t tell you).
I then headed to the MacMillan Space Centre (in the same building as the Vancouver museum). I’d been looking forward to going there from when I first saw a picture of the fountain outside.
However, I was left disappointed. The place is tiny and doesn’t have any unique displays. And though they make a big deal of the hands-on aspect of the place, most of them are silly simulator games where you need to land a shuttle etc. So I don’t think I took any pictures. The Planetarium (price included in entry) was good though and there was a fairly interesting science demonstration also included in the price of admission.
I did go to the Art Gallery one day (no pictures allowed of course) which I really enjoyed. They are revamping the site at the moment, so not all the usual floors are open, but the British Columbia exhibit is well worth a visit and there are not only paintings and photos, but video displays and even manga to keep you occupied.
And really, those ended up being the only touristy things I did. The rest of the time was job-hunting, house-hunting then finding then moving, and general plodding around on the internet, keeping in touch with everyone. I did go see Edge of Darkness at the cinema, which was an okay film though I thought there was a jerkiness to the acting/directing that did nothing for me.
Fingers crossed that next time I update I will have some solid job news to blog about.
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There hasn’t been too much tourist-like activity occurring this week, though there has been a steady stream of resume sending out and craiglist browsing for housing. I’ve had some emails and call backs today about various things I have in the pipeline so it does feel like everything is starting to come together. For the moment I’m still in the hostel and right now sitting in the lounge area typing this, as the wifi in my room keeps dropping out appallingly.
I did go on a pretty brief trip to Kitsilano and the beach there, which you can see in the pictures below, but I definitely need to go back there and do some exploring, especially of the bookstores I hear are there. Though I’ve been good, I haven’t bought a single book yet! I still have two books with me to read though; we’ll see how long my willpower continues once I’ve finished them…
Hello world! Thought it was about time I update this since I’m now safely in Vancouver! The flight over went smoothly, though we were slightly delayed because of the snow at Heathrow, and I met up okay with the other BUNAC travellers who are all a lovely bunch (*waves at those reading this*).
Vancouver itself is great, though I haven’t had chance to do too much exploring just yet. The first few days were doing all the administrative business of living somewhere new, setting up bank accounts etc and then sending out an endless stream of resumes to various temping agencies.
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