Blue Skies
Discovery: Vancouver in the summer is awesome, yo. Unlike in Toronto, where summer means like “extreme heat warnings” and “going to the mall every weekend because at least it’s air conditioned,” Vancouver in the summer is a great place to be. It is warm, sure, but it is in the mid-20s, so you can comfortably wear a sundress, but you won’t spend the whole day feeling as though you are about to melt. You even need to bring a sweater if you’re going out at night
Vancouver has many many many flaws, but the availability of delicious food at reasonable prices is not one of them. The photo above shows where Alex and I enjoyed the most ridiculously good lunch ever. There is this place, called Go Fish, that is located on the actual fisherman’s wharf, and you go down, and they serve you amazingly fresh fish, all tender and delicious and in various formats (sandwich, taco, battered and fried) which you can then eat while looking at boats and the blue glass condo towers across False Creek.
Anyway, I am trying to enjoy summertime idling as much as I can, drinking various minty cocktails and trying to work through some Kant. I fear I will run out of money if I don’t find some kind of paying work soon. This would help pay off my summer tuition and help me not starve while I’m hoping student loans will come through. In other news, Alex moved way up the waitlist, so I may not be lonely and miserable and have to move this fall. Hurray!
The downside of Vancouver summer is the incredibly large concentration of tourists. Unlike my old place in Toronto (Bloor and Ossington not being a tourism hot spot), I live in an area where tourists seem to turn up (ie. there is a large hotel 4 blocks away from my house). Last night, Alex and I were waiting for the bus home across the Cambie Bridge. A couple of (I’m guessing) affluent middle-aged Americans walked up to the other guy at the stop and asked him a couple of questions. The woman then walked over to us on the bench and pointed across the bridge, saying “TWELTH AVENUE?” in the over-enunciated loud way people talk to those for whom English is not a first language. Alex and I were like, “Yeah, Twelfth is that way.”
So weird.
4 Responses to “Blue Skies”
Rach on 10 Jul 2007 at 4:50 pm #
What, did she think you spoke French or something?
And yes, aside from the overabundance of Vancouverites, Vancouver was a lovely place in the summer. Did I mention we’re sweltering in a muggy, buggy hellhole right now? Dear God, I need to get back to Kincardine, like, stat.
Off I go to my second cold shower of the evening.
PS - tried a temp service yet? I mean, it’s only a couple of months, and you’d be likely to find that non-demanding reception job you wanted.
Rach on 10 Jul 2007 at 4:55 pm #
PPS - Hey! I see both of my condos there!
PPS - I think Alex might be in the clear - the MBA students are dropping like flies around now. I don’t think it will be as extreme with Law (less dependent on work obligations and international students) but you have to assume that other schools (i.e. U of T, U Vic, are experiencing dropouts as well, and making offers to their waitlisted applicants, who may have already accepted at UBC but really want to go to U of T and will pull out, opening up more spots for you.)
Seriously, the world of professional grad school admissions is a weird frickin’ place. Much more harried in the summers than you think it would be.
Rach on 10 Jul 2007 at 4:56 pm #
That last comment was really badly formatted. I blame the heat.
brenda on 10 Jul 2007 at 5:12 pm #
I have NO clue what she thought. Maybe that we were junkies or something? I don’t know why this would necessitate talking louder though.
Re: job, I haven’t really tried a any kind of job hunt yet, because of the fact that I honestly kind of have enjoyed not working, but temp service is my vaguely-formed plan. I’m sure there must be some kind of summer contract-y positions out there for me.
The greatness of the summer totally makes putting up with many Vancouverites worth it; I’m still SO glad we have water between us and Yaletown though.