STANLEYPARKisOMFGWTFWOW

[canadian_turtle]

Mood: || Content
Tune : Westlife - "No No"

[English]

Today I am gonna sum up some things I noticed about Canada / Vancouver since my stay here.

[x] It’s pretty clean here compared to big cities in the Netherlands; no dog shit on every street corner & special boxes for read newspapers and used transfers at the stations

[x] People very much like coffee here: Starbucks. Blend, etc in every street

[x] It’s very cheap to call local (free from a normal phone even), but when you have a mobile it’s more expensive, because you also pay when you get called…

[x] There are a lot of good (new) TV-shows on here, some I already saw in the last weeks: Lost, Desperate Housewives, Cold Case, The O.C., Simpsons (about ten epi’s already, Leo be proud of me :P), Alias, Law and Order SVU, CSI Miami, Treshold, Invasion, Numb3rs, Ghost Whisperer, Medium, Corner Gas, Grey’s Anatomy, Degrassi, do I need to go on? Hey I don’t have a job yet, I don’t have much to do yet in the eve’s :P *snicker*

[x] In the shops the people who help you are more friendly than in the Netherlands. Though sometimes this friendliness can be inconvenient. I.e. when you are gonna pay for something they also always ask how you are. What if you’re not doing so well? You don’t have time for a long convo, because the queue behind you grows…

[x] Banking is pretty expensive also. For what you pay you get a max. of 15 transactions each month (a few of them are checking the money from your work, that doesn’t go automatically here) and you have to pay if you get cash from an ATM that’s not your bank’s

[x] Stanley park and it’s surroundings is almost the most prettiest thing I have seen. I think the Blue Mountains (Australia) is still my number one, but maybe that’s also because that whole holiday was amazing because I was with people I’d love to hang out with. Anyways the weather yesterday was amazing and I shot about 100 pics (mostly the sea/mountains/totempoles). I would have made more pics if my camera wouldn’t have died halfway (well the batteries). I walked the entire 10 km along the shore, went over the beach, didn’t see a big wave coming so my feet were soaken wet (don’t laugh!), went also through the woods and enjoyed every minute. As soon as the weather allows me to do so I am going back there with spare batteries LOL

I’ll post the pics later this week, don’t want two pic updates in a row and spoil you all ;)


[Nederlands]

Vandaag ga ik eens opsommen wat mij zoal is opgevallen in Canada / Vancouver sinds ik hier ben gearriveerd.

[x] Het is hier best schoon, geen hondenpoep op elke straathoek zoals bij ons & en er staan speciale bakken om de gratis kranten (Metro etc.) en de kaartjes voor het OV te dumpen bij elk station.

[x] Koffie is heel populair: Starbucks, Blend, in elke straat.

[x] Het is heel goedkoop om lokaal te bellen met een vaste telefoon (gratis zelfs), maar mobiel bellen daarentegen is best duur en je betaalt zelfs als je wordt gebeld!

[x] Een heleboel goeie (nieuwe) series worden hier uitgezonden, ik heb de afgelopen weken o.a. Lost, Desperate Housewives, Cold Case, The O.C., Simpsons, Alias, Law and Order SVU, CSI Miami, Treshold, Invasion, Numb3rs, Ghost Whisperer, Medium, Corner Gas, Grey’s Anatomy, Degrassi gezien. Hehehe hey ik heb nog geen baan, dus mijn avonden zijn noghelemaal vrij voor de tv ;)

[x] In de winkels is iedereen erg aardig, te aardig soms. Bv bij het afrekeken vragen ze hoe je bent. Wat als het niet goed gaat? Je kan moeilijk een lang gesprek beginnen, de rij achter je blijft groeien…

[x] Bankieren is hier ook best duur en voor het geld mag je maar 15 handelingen per maand plegen (een aantal zijn al het geld van je werk incasseren, want dat gaat hier niet automatisch) en je moet ook betalen als je pint bij een automaat die niet van jouw bank is.

[x] Stanley Park en de omgeving is een van de mooiste dingen die ik ooit heb gezien. The Blue Mountains (Australie) is nog steeds nummer 1, maar dat is ook omdat ik een geweldige vakantie had met vrienden. In ieder geval, het was gisteren schitterend weer en ik heb ongeveer 100 foto’s gemaakt (van de zee, de Bergen, de totempalen, het bos). Zouden er zelfs meer zijn geweest als de batterijen van mijn camera niet leeg waren…. Ik heb de hele 10 km langs de rand van het park gelopen, ben over het strand geweest, zag een grote golf niet aankomen dus toen waren mijn voeten zeikend nat (niet lachen!), ben door het bos geweest en heb van elke minuut genoten. Wanneer het weer zulk mooi weer is ga ik terug om nog meer foto’s te maken (en met reservebatterijen LOL)

Ik zal de foto’s later deze week posten, ik wou jullie niet teveel verwennen met twee foto updates achter elkaar hahaha

Comments

[leoalekslib.livejournal.com]

ur not spoiling me woith pics... i want them actually :P

and u watched the simpsons!!! *HUGS*

luv ya babe

Leo

[canadian-turtle.livejournal.com]

I know you want them (the totempole ones :P) that's why I am holding back mwhahaha *hugz*

PS Simpsons aren't that bad but sshhh to the rest

[ex-seaofname608.livejournal.com]

Cell phones can be free for a lot of people...you can get a plan where anyone else you call or calls you is on the same cell company, it will be free!

If you get a cheaper bank like Presidents choice financial, they dont charge you for transactions and have no limit on how many you can do in a month.

There are many more things to talk about here...the way Vancouver is compared to a lot of cities is different in many ways.

I'd love to take you out sometime exploring and answer any more questions or discuss things!

G'day,
Ross

[playoffpush.livejournal.com]

I second the PC financial. You can also do your banking at any CIBC ATM, which is convenient because they're littered all over the city. I also hear that Coast Capital has free a chequing account, though I'm not sure about the stipulations.

[kittenjunkie.livejournal.com]

Hi, I linked to you from vancouver, and think this is awesome. I've been an observer in other countries and it's nice to hear an outside perspective about my own. I work in tourism, so if you'd like any more info, a hike or a rainy visit to the Cap Suspension Bridge (the North Shore is really nice too :), you can contact me through my page. :)

Great to hear from you!

[romancebuff.livejournal.com]

You watched Invasion?:) Cool, now we can talk about that too! I agree with the above comment, I have Cingular and if I call anyone else who has it it's free. That same thing happens to me with the going shopping and people being friendly, it's nice but if I'm in a bad mood I think, "You want the truth or not?";) Aww, that's cool! I haven't been to a beach in ages and the park sounds wonderful!

[unkle-social.livejournal.com]

"hi how are you/how's it going" is a standard greeting. nine time out of ten they aren't listening to your response. you're supposed to say "good" even if that's not true.

i don't know why it's like that. i hate it.

hi. i'm glad you like stanley park.

[angeldean.livejournal.com]

Wow so many tv thingies.-. sounds like you made an awesome walk...

Cant wait to see the pictures... *huggles*