Richard and I have recently started to take a Beginners Cha-Cha-Cha / Rumba class at Vancouver Ballroom. Evidently, enough time has passed for each of us to recover from the trauma of dancing in high school for us to feel that this could be a rewarding experience. Two weeks into it, we're finding it quite enjoyable, if challenging at certain points (example: 20 minutes into any given class).
#10. Cherry blossoms
"If Winter should say, 'Spring is in my heart,' who would believe winter?" Kahlil Gibran.
Stanley Park, Boxing Day 2004
#11. Main Street
My mother and I had dinner at Honolulu Cafe a couple evenings ago, our favorite slightly-dingy, inexpensive Hong Kong-style restaurant. We were too late for afternoon tea, the daily "meal-and-drink for $7 or less" menu, and the owners were serving starter winter melon soup to make up for the fact that their windows make the place chilly. When my brother and his wife lived about two blocks away, there were evenings when we would see them come in and sit down at a booth, too tired from work to cook.
#12. The Seawall
Two years ago, on New Year's Day, Vancouver was, as it is at this very moment, covered in snow. A friend and I randomly decided to see what a snowy Seawall was like. We met up on Pender, took the #19 to the bus loop at Stanley park, and started to trudge. I marvelled at the bike tracks in the slush, felt my toes go numb in my highly inadequate sneakers. We talked our usual rounds of ephemera, made it to English Bay an hour or so later. My down jacket has smelled of snow since.
In the summer when I feel much less nervous about being on my own bike, the seaside route is my preferred way into downtown, northbound from Ontario and swinging around Science World. I notice that I've only ever done the Seawall in chunks--just rollerblading the Stanley Park bits, or walking by Coal Harbour after the company Christmas party, or going from Yaletown over to the beach and the West End. I've never quite done the entire Seawall all in one go. Maybe that would just be too much Vancouver all at once.
#13. Mountains
They peek over the buildings on the Hastings strip when you take the 135, like one of those looped stock backgrounds in a cartoon. You can tell the cold has set in when you see them dusted and fuzzy with snow, and their lights twinkle dimly at you during the night like stars who missed a turn. They're like a comforting arm thrown around the shoulder of Vancouver, always got your back.
They make the Skytrain way, way more fun than driving. Always.
I didn't get to enjoy the mountains myself until last month, when I went snowshoeing for the first time. I'm going to Grouse next week too. There may be more snow in Toronto, but their hills can't possibly be as fun.
#14. Hot beverages.
Lychee tea, chrysanthemum tea, ginseng tea, passion tea, chamomile tea, chai, pumpkin spice latte, ovaltine with cream and cane sugar, caramel macchiato, sugar cane drink in little packets, Lipton tea, green tea with rice, vanilla latte, tea at dim sum...
#15. Stucco
The first time I went to the East Coast, I was taking a horrific bus tour with my mother that went up and down the Eastern Seaboard in some ridiculously tiny amount of time, like 9 days (TorontoNewYorkAtlanticCityPhilidelphiaWashingtonDCMontrealQuebec - say that 3 times fast). Most days began at 6am, ended when we finished dinner with the group at 8pm, and consisted of 5-6 hours of travelling on the bus.
One of the things I remember being struck by very quickly was how much red brick there was, in nearly every building I encountered--such a contrast from Vancouver's abundance of stucco and glass, and the intimidating cement towers of Hong Kong encrusted with little tiles. They all looked kind of indignantly huffy, trudging along doggedly in spite of their age, even in bright summer.
The peach, pink, purple, green or dark blue stucco houses live like a colourful bouquet, with their trim and their fences grey roofs and their brand-spanking-newness. And the Vancouver specials look on proudly like parents at a preschool graduation.
#16. The 135
Ah, the trusty 135 SFU/Burrard Station express bus. It ferries me back and forth between the place where I often need to be and the place where I love to be--SFU Burnaby and downtown Vancouver, respectively. And sometimes I'll take it halfway home too. I almost never take it when it's packed, which means big long rows of seats, good for curling up on; and the length of the trip makes it nice for catching up on readings on the bus. I've had a couple of good random conversations on it.
It was actually the first bus I ever took to SFU, back before the Millenium Line was finished. I remember stepping onto the conjoined bus that first time, marvelling at how everybody had their heads buried in textbooks, and how very soon I was going to be one of them. Taking it eastbound around 4 o'clock in the afternoon is fun too, since that's when all the older Chinese women are going home from shopping and chatting about the things that matter and that are annoying, like how frustrating their kids are.
Tomorrow is the last time that I'll be rushing from my downtown class up to SFU for my evening class. To the Hastings strip mall, the 135, the stop before the hill, I bid adieu.
I'm moving to Toronto soon. I'm going to miss this place. Here's how.
#17. Sushi.
I went for sushi with my mother last night at Metrotown. We decided to skip the all you can eat (since I'm having it with some friends next weekend) and went straight for the sashimi boat. Hardly the best sashimi I've ever had in my life, but sweetened by the fact that I'll soon be without affordable, fresh raw fish for at least 8 months.
Our boat came with raw shrimp. This reminds me of this one time my mother, my brother, my sister-in-law and I went to a sushi place on No. 3 Road in Richmond and had raw lobster. The poor thing was still twitching at the table while we ate its other parts, and then it was cooked into lobster noodle soup. I'm not a big animal-rights type, but even I had to admit that was kinda cruel.
Yum. I'm going to try and make off with as much unagi (barbecued eel) as possible this weekend.
