We Can Bomb the World to Pieces, But We Can't Bomb it Into Peace

august 28/09

more and more i realize i am not meant for the big city. everyone rushing, everyone busy. the air stale from constant gas emissions and construction dust. whats left of the natural environment is divided into territories, reshaped and developed into skyrises. townhomes. condos.

even still - vancouver has to be one of the greenest big cities i have ever been to. there are vast amounts of parks, beaches and mountains - but after having my experience out in the wild of b.c. i find that what vancouver has to offer is not enough. i long for a beach without views of freighters and cruise ships passing by. i dream of walking down a sidewalk without being detoured every block by construction crews. i miss the slow pace a smaller city brings where "window shopping" still holds its meaning.

that all said - vancouver isnt all bad. i have enjoyed exploring all there is here - including my experience in getting my first (and well deserved) pedicure. i had no idea there was that much dead skin on my heels! i thought for sure the lady was going to scrape me down to the bone.

there is also so much more to do than what i have donw. the markets. more beach. grouse mountain. vancouver island. the list goes on and the more i do, the more i find out there is to do.


august 29/09

well - yesterday was such a long day i simply had no energy left in me to finish writing about it. after spending a few hours wandering the streets and shops of downtown i managed to find my way over to granville island where the year-long market is.

from there i spent more tim wandering the stores filled with handmade and/or imported products. i admired all the fresh produce on the fruit and veggie stands and spent time listening to local musicians as i ate some gelato. all in all it was a great day.

as i left the market it was then that i met HIM. i was walking along the sidewalk towards my bus stop when out of the corner of my eye i saw a man making a beeline for me. when he got beside me he started gesturing towards the "scenery" (we were under a major bridge, the street was grundgy and the boats parked along the shoreline sat in algae-coated water) and saying things in french. i simply told him i do not speak french so hes going to have to switch up the conversation style if he wanted to talk to me.

he responded by explaining that he thought that everything we were looking at, where we were, what we were experiencing was utterly romantic.

me - being me - automatically went to my defence tactics against creepy men im not interested in by playing the bitter card. i told him it might be romantic for those who were with their special someone.

as soon as the words left my mouth i knew i had said the wrong thing. i had momentarily forgotten i was speaking to a middle-aged french man who was obviously VERY forward. as such, my words of bluntness immediately opened the door for him to think that i was available.... for him.

i dont remember much about the rest of our conversation other than i told him my name was susan, he gave me his email address, repeatedly asked me to go for drinks with him, kissed my hand and stood WAY too close to me. all the while the little voice in my head is screaming "SOS" and my eyes scan all the people passing by us to find one that i could pass off as being my friend. as it happened everyone was either on a bike, rollerblades or strolling hand-in-hand with that special someone as they enjoyed the "romantic" view.

eventually i managed to convince my paris-residing creep that i REALLY had to go meet my friends. he pulled me in for a hug and kissed me on the cheek. i wanted to run for my life. instead i crossed the street and hid behind the bush until i could be sure that the french man was long gone. i made a mental note that i need to come up with more strategies to avoid these types of men should i ever venture to the realm of france.

***

today, however, was an excellent day in which all of us (mike, kathy, the kids and i) went out for some chinese food and then for ice cream. we ended up going to an place called the international ice cream factory and it definitely lived up to its name! complete with 218 flavours i was astounded to find out what some of them were. there was corn, wassabi, apple cheddar and many others that left my jaw dropping at the thought that there was people out there that actually WANTED to pay for a taste of that. i, on the other hand, stuck with a more "normal" flavour of pineapple strawberry. YUM!


august 30/09

as i come down the homestretch of my experiences with vancouver i feel sentimental in having to say "goodbye." i find the emotion surprising to me as this is not the most ideal place i would want to be at, yet the complexities that vancouver offers pull me in to a deeper sense of appreciation and even love of the west coast city.

sure, the beaches are littered with garbage and the view is busy with an endless stream of freighter and cruise ships, but that has brought me to a place of fascination over the unique culture of vancouver. yeah, theres tons of construction, tall skyscrapers and endless streams of vehicles, but that gives the city character.

there is a sense of beauty and grace to vancouver that is unlike any city i have ever been to before. looking back over my journey that has brought me to today, i truely believe i came to vancouver with a closed mind. i had already decided it wouldnt be a place id like. as such, i had originally planned to be in and out within a couple of days. its now nearly 2 weeks and i am glad i stuck around. sure, vancouver may not be a place id come to settle down in, but because i finally took the time to relax and get to know the city, i can see how others want to and have come to live here.

a couple days from now i will plan to move on. i want to check out vancouver island for a bit before i make my way down the west coast to LA. i find it amazing how much cheaper flights are from the states though i really cant complain much as now i get to add the west coast of the usa to my adventures. to top it off - i got family in oregon so i hope to stope by for a visit with them as its been a few years.

all that said - today has been yet another great day. i went to do the observation deck at the vancouver lookout then have spent the afternoon wandering around downtown, taking pictures and hanging at the beach. here on the sand i have realized just how much my body has become climatized to the hot weather. it is sunny and in the mid-20s today - everyones stripped to their swimsuits. i, on the other hand, stay in jeans and contemplate putting on a sweater as i find the ocean breeze cool.


august 31/09

it is officially the last day of the month and i can hardly believe how time has flown by. its hard to imagine that before this journey had begun, the longest i had ever been away from "home" was a total of 19 days. today im at day 62. before this journey i had never spent more than 4 days backpacking in the wilderness. i have now done 49. before this journey i had never done a lot of the things im doing now - i had only dreamed of them. and yet, even still, this journey feels the most natural things in the world. i suppose that is what living out my dream should be like.

i am super excited to be moving forward in the next couple of days. i can only imagine where life is going to take me and i relish the feeling of not knowing.