I've been gone a month yet and it feels like I have been gone months already. So much is happening in such a short period of time it's hard for me to keep up. I am not even sure where the last blog ended but I have a feeling I was heading to Vancouver for a few days and meeting up with my friend Robbie who I worked with in Darwin; so thats where I will continue from.
Robbie's plane was landing at 4pm but I arrived at the airport at 4:30pm hoping he wasn't waiting for me but his plane was delayed till 4:33pm so I wasn't late :). In the arrivals area there are televisions so you can see your arrival coming through the gates. I figured Robbie would be out at about 5:15 or 5:30 so I made myself as comfortable as possible on the airport bench and played a game on my phone. 5:30 comes, no Robbie; 6:00 comes, still no Robbie; 6:30 comes and goes along with 7:00. I was starting to get worried not really knowing what to think. Then my phone rings through Viber...it's Robbie. "Emmie, mate...I'm stuck at customs." "Why, what happened?" "Well they asked me if I purchased health before I came over here and I didn't." "Didn't you read your visa, explaining everything?" "No. So I have been stuck here for two hours. They won't let me go through. They told me I have to purchase insurance in order to get through." "So purchase some. but you are gonna have to purchase for a year...they are gonna want to see that you are covered for at least your first year." " I can't purchase any. Everything is online and I closed my Aussie account down before I left." "Mate why would you shut your account completely?" "I don't know, didn't think I would need it. I have so much in cash on me and the rest is in a cheque so I can't purchase anything online." Without even thinking about it I gave him my credit card information and within 10 minutes he was through customs.
He looked like a lost kid when he come walking out. His backpack was on one shoulder, he had his smaller carryon bag dragging along the floor and he was scanning the crowd for me with the look of a lost and scared puppy dog look. He looked like he was about to cry when he saw me. Poor guy.
As jetlagged as he was he wanted to drink - like most backpackers do when arriving in a new country. We went downstairs to the Hostel Bar and had some drinks there. The Hostel (The Cambie) Is located on a corner in Gastown which is a great part of Vancouver city...however the corner we were located on was not so great. Unfortunately, Robbie and I not knowing what it was like sat right beside the gate/fence of the patio. Every five minutes a street urchent would come up to us asking "can you spare some change?" "do you have an extra cigarette?" One guy even asked if he could draw Robbie who politely said no but the man kept on insisting and without Robbie's go ahead took out a sharpie and a piece of cardboard and started drawing at a fast pace talking away while Robbie and I continued our conversation. "Look," so we looked at what he had drawn - two charachatures (a guy and a girl) sitting side by side with a big heart around them??? OK. "Can I have some money for the picture?" "Mate I told you I didn't want my picture drawn and you went ahead and did it anyways, we are trying to have a nice night here." The man grumbled a few words took our cardboard charachatures and tossed it in the garbage. There was another guy who asked me for a cigarette and when I went to give him one he was like "is it menthol?" "beggars can't be choosers...but no it's not." It never stopped we were always being hassled by someone for money or cigarettes or drugs.
Speaking of drugs...the air in Vancouver smells like marijuana - I'm guessing thats because it is smoked so openly, the street corner, outside of the bars, in the park...everywhere. I usually don't mind the smell but it was just too much after a few days; it didn't help either that when you went inside the hostel there was a constant smell of urine, though I got used to it so maybe the smell of the hostel is the better choice.
The next day two of the guys (Issam and Eric) from the hostel in Kelowna were meeting up with us, but due to a failure in hitchiking they didn't arrive till midnight by Greyhound. So Robbie and I headed out to a bar where my friend Ben works - we met in LA at the hostel and haven't seen eachother in three years. We had a hard time finding it, not because of the location - even though a bouncer from one of the clubs sent us down a dark alleyway for some reason - it was just not marked well, but after 45 minutes we realized we had walked passed it three times. It definitely was classy and my backpacking styles did not fit in with the trendiness of the place but we had a blast and Ben was very very kind with what he "wasn't" charging us for drinks.
When the guys finally met up with us - they had a hard time finding it as well - we had a few more drinks and then went back to the hostel bar to buy some take-away beers. Unfortunately we got there too late and we couldn't buy any but the bartender gave Issam a number to order "after hours." Half an hour and $50 later we had a bottle of vodka and mix and continued our night in the common room of the hostel.
It got really annoying constantly having to go all the way downstairs and outside to have a smoke so Kevin (Issam's friend who works at the hostel) opened up the windows in the common room and said "just smoke out here." Yup on the window ledge...I know right...me and heights...however my vertigo was fine and I really enjoyed the view. After we climbed out the window of the laundry room and drank on the roof till the wee hours of the morning. Don't worry mom, it's more like a courtyard and is surrounded by the walls and rooms of the hostel, there were no ledges for us to fall off.
We woke up around 11am the next day and went for lunch at The Warehouse (everything on the menu is $4.95). The outside menu said they were serving Babes and Beer "I could go for that" said Robbie. When we sat down at our table the waitress came up and I asked her "I was just wondering. Your menu outside said there are babes and beer...which babes or on the menu for today?" I definitely was still drunk from the night before. I was so hungover I couldn't even eat...I felt like a big pile of poo...and the best way to cure that is to have a drink. Our waitress told us of this Iced Tea drink in a can...it tastes exactly like Iced Tea, you can't even taste the alcohol in it, they went down so good and we all started feeling good. Then our waitress brough us a round of free shots - pickle backs, a shot of pickle juice followed by a shot of whiskey, it's pretty good. We left about 2 hours after we got there, maybe more as I lost track of time and then we went back to the hostel bar and drank beer the rest of the day. By 6pm I was done. I was wasted and felt like shit and I still couldn't eat so I went to bed...it was an early night for everyone. None of us could really sleep so at midnight Robbie did a pizza run which was the smartest idea all day lol. And yes, I ate some and finally went to sleep.
The next day we didn't do much, we wanted to stay low key and avoid alcohol at all costs so thats what we did. The day after (which was Monday) was our last day in Vancouver and Issam and Eric had to head to Nanaimo (on the Island) for the day so Robbie and I went out and took some pictures of some amazing Grafitti.
Later that day, Robbie, Lauren (a girl we met at the hostel) and I headed down to the bar for a couple pitchers. --- At one point in the night we saw a skunk and Robbie had never seen one. "OMG! A skunk!!! I have to get a picture!" and he was off coming back five minutes later with a smile and a few pictures. "Look how close I was I could have reached out and touched it. "Robbie!" I said looking at him "never touch a skunk, do you understand me" I was laughing "you have no idea the smell of them and how long it can take to get out...please just stay away from the skunk" lol..gotta love the Aussies. --- Xavier and Romain (the Belgium boys from our room) joined us and the pitchers started flowing. They bought 2 then we bought one, then they bought one and we bought three, Issam and Eric joined us later on and that was another 3 pitchers, we drank till the bar shut. With it being our last night in Vancouver we decided that a phone call and $50 for some take away vodka was a good idea and we drank on the roof till like 5 in the morning.
On Tuesday Robbie, Issam and I were heading back to Kelowna. We had to wait till 4:30 for our bus so a few of us went to the park to sit in the sun. Of course...a street urchin put us in his radar and headed our way. He threw a book on the ground, got down on his knees, put his head down on the book and sprawled out. I figured he was just gonna take a nap and not bother us, but of course I thought too soon. He started talking away - about I don't know what - and coughing into his hand and I think he said "I'm Sushi." Then he looked at Issam, held his hand up and said "hi 5." So Issam high fived him. Then he looked at me and did the same thing so I high fived him. Then he asked me again, so again I high fived him, then again so I did again. The 4th time I was like "no mate thats enough" and he wouldn't stop. After realizing he was failing with me he turned to Lauren. "Sorry mate, you have been coughing into that hand and I am not overly keen on touching it." Shit, I didnt even think of that and my sanitizer wasn't on me. Lauren continued, "Mate you look a little fucked up if I might add. We are just trying to hang out so you can leave now." Not being able to get him to leave we decided we would move spots. Lauren started walking farther up the park and "Sushi" belined it right for her. Kevin went after them to make sure she was alright - which she was - and Issam went after "Sushi" had a long talk with him which eventually led to "Sushi" putting a sleeping man on a bench in his radar. Thank God. We spent about an hour in the park hanging out and talking, Robbie finally joined us after his walk around Gastown and we saw a friend from the hostel in Kelowna who joined us, and then "Sushi" decided he missed us and joined us again...we listened to him for about 15 minutes until we decided we'd had enough.
We spent the rest of our time walking along the water and talking away and then headed to the grey hound station for our 5 hour bus ride to Kelowna. Robbie and I only spent two nights there and then hopped on a Greyhound up to Kamloops - I know I have been taking Greyhound so much here but it hasn't been bad but I still have some time here so we will see how it goes.
Robbie and I were going up to see Alex - my best girlfriend from Darwin, we worked in Karumba together and met up again for the months we lived in Darwin - for her birthday. I was super stoked to see her, I hadn't seen her since my last week in Australia. She is living and working about an hour out of Kamloops in Sunpeaks at the resort.
We had a blast. The first night we didn't last long I passed out after an hour at her place. The next day (Friday) we had plans to go golfing...yup me golfing...that's a laugh, I can barely hit the ball, however I am great at driving the carts, having a few beers and playing bumper carts. We couldn't go golfing right away because there was a conference golf game so we went to the bar where she works and had about 3 pitchers of beer and thats where it all started. 3 hours later we got two golf carts headed to the beer shack - $12 for 4 - and began the most unprofessional golf game ever. It was soo much fun and absolutely beautiful. It was surrounded by mountains and the sun was shining. I even tee'd off and when I hit my ball from where it landed I did a little dance when I actually hit it. We skipped a hole because Alex didn't like it and then we skipped 8 and 9 (we only played the front 9). Robbie and Alex were driving the cart infront of me, they kept looking behind them to make sure I was following them but my cart was begining to run out of battery "great" I thought to myself "I'm gonna get stuck out here with the bears and have to walk back." Of course not golfing I didn't know the pro-shop would know my battery died and come out with a new one, but I made it back to the pro shop safe and sound. We continued our day with drinks and a party at Simon's (Al's boyfriend.)
The next few days we really didn't do much as it was raining and backpacking involves a lot of drinking so we chilled out with Netflix and even got Robbie to watch Hairspray. Alex was amazing, she cooked for us everyday and the meals were fantastic, she wouldn't even let us give her money for food "you guys are on a budget so it's my treat." Sunday was her Birthday so Robbie and I picked up the tab for her and Simon to say thank you for everything :). Then of course, what happens is what always happens especially when with Al we drank till the wee hours of the morning though I was never hung over that weekend. Al always cooked the most epic meals and in the morning when I woke up on Sophie - the couch in Simons living room - and Robbie woke up on Juan the Mexican guy - haha just kidding its the other couch - Simon made us a fresh fruit smoothie!!! How can you be hungover with all the wonderful stuff they showered us with.
We saw a bear! Well...there is a possibility it was a bear. They hang out on one of the hills, but so do cows, though the cows usually hang out in heards and this was just one big spot. "Is it moving?" asked Simon "Of course it's moving look at it! Is it a bear, I want to see one! I have only seen them in the zoo." "Well dirt moves, in the wind." I just looked at him. "Well," he said "we will say yes, it is a bear. That way you feel better." It was sad when we left on Monday. I really didn't want to say goodbye to Alex. It was so good to see her and I had missed her so much, but we are meeting up next week :)
Now, for the past week we have been back at the hostel in Kelowna. We went grape picking on Thursday. It was not bad all, it was not excruciating and not once did I ask myself the famous question "what the fuck did I get myself into?" It was actually kind of fun - even though my hands were purple at the end of the day - and I was keen on filling a bin. But once you start dumping the buckets in the bin and they don't seem to fill much...1 becomes your goal for the day and by the end of the day, even though we finished our row our bin still wasn't full. You make $80 a bin when they are full and we worked in pairs...so we made, MAYBE, $35 each. Definitely not worth it...but it was nice to get out for a day. We are hoping to do some work this week - smaller bins and more money - it's been raining, or the grapes haven't been ready so the days we work are not really guaranteed...so we are keeping our fingers crossed.
Well...I know this was a long one and there are still a few more things to tell but I will save it for the next one...I am gonna try and get another one out at the end of weekend before heading back to Vancouver :) Hope you all are well, talk soon.
MyBeautifulLife
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