Vancouver, will you marry me? For here are the things we love about thee:
Coffee - for as long as I've known Shan she's been crazy for coffee and she always talked about how much she loved the coffee in Canada. It is different here. You just ask for a coffee and they give you an almost-filled cup of drip coffee and you put in the cream or milk and sugar yourself. It has become a daily ritual for Shan to pick up a coffee every morning from Blenz on our way to anywhere. Luckily for Shan, Vancouver has about 76 coffee shops on each block.
Our apartment - thanks to Chris and Lisa, we get to spend our first 6 months in Vancouver in an awesome apartment, in an awesome part of town with fantastic views and bikes we can use to explore the city! We both agreed that anything after this is going to be a let down..
The city - before we moved here, everytime we mentioned Vancouver to someone who had been here had the same remark - that it was the most beautiful city they'd ever been to. It really is beautiful! The north American architecture of the homes is really cool, the city is really pretty and well kept, the water is clean and clear and the mountains behind the city just make everything perfect. We're lucky enough to enjoy views of the mountain and city from our perfect apartment.
Food - just this week we've managed to find a reasonably priced supermarket, an awesome $2.99 all day breakfast joynt and you can get a $1.50 slice of pizza anytime of the day or night, anywhere around the city. And they're a big slice too. New York Slice in the Valley is ripping everyone off!
Everything is easy - transport is simple and cheap (lots of buses, new train line near our house, you pay $2.50 and you get a pass you can use on any public transport for 1.5 hours), the people are really friendly (the girl at the bank apologised for taking so long, saying she didn't want to give us a bad impression of Canadian banks, even though she was staying behind after close to get our travellers cheque processed!), and the whole process of coming here has been straightforward and easy.
Clothing - As with London, it's much easier to be trendy in a cooler climate. So the fashion is different here. Less singlets and flip-flops and more jackets and sneakers. It's cool. We're enjoying layering and picking up cool clothes fairly cheap. I've been lucky enough to buy two new pairs of shoes (on top of the two pairs I bought just before we left), and Shan bought one new pair for work. I'll be blogging about my new shoes later :)
Dogs - Dogs can go anywhere in Vancouver. Everyone seems more relaxed about dogs here and you can find them everywhere - in the bank, at the employment office, at every park. And they're not just there, they're walking around freely. When we went to get our Social Insurance Number (like our tax file number) yesterday, this girl had a little maltese terrier there and he was just wandering around through all the people and I got to pat him. He was SOOOOOO cute!
Love - Shan and I are honestly more in love here. I think all of the above has made our life happy, made us happy and we can't stop smiling at each other. And because all of Canada has equal rights, we can walk around holding hands and no one cares and we can talk about our wedding and everyone gets excited. See Mr Prime Minister, this country allows gay marriage and society isn't falling apart and the horses aren't eating each other either.
September 7: We returned home from Mumsie's place today.
September 7: We returned home from Mumsie's place today.
September 6: Today is our second day at Mumsie's place. We've done lots of relaxing and laughing and sleeping and playing and eating and no-one had to ride back to town on a moose carcass - phew!
Shan
