Cowboys in Calgary

Penticton, BC

We spent a great afternoon on the "beach" in Penticton. It's not a real beach because it's a couple of hundred miles inland and is actually on the biggest lake I've ever seen. So big there are at least 3 towns around it, one of which is called 'Peachland'. Perfect!

Hope...or no Hope?

Hope, BC is an interesting place and by interesting I mean iiiiiin-ter-est-iiiiing!

Banff National Park

Grizzly Bear sighting at Banff National Park

Wreck beach

Lighthouse Park

Lynn Canyon

The sea wall

This was my view walking along the sea wall to the gym yesterday. Looking from Coal Harbour towards North Vancouver

The Village, False Creek

From the North Shore

The view of Downtown Vancouver from Lonsdale Quay, North Vancouver.

Shannon Falls, BC

Is being "social", always that social?

I have been very tardy in my blog writing, but the truth is I am in such a wonderful place (in so many ways) that to stop and write about my adventures would be to miss out or live a little less in the present.

As someone who works with social media day in day out, it becomes an unfortunate occupational hazard to be constantly think about "sharing", be it via Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, Skype, Google+...you see where this is going.

I have had to make a conscious effort to reinforce my own values to stop and smell the roses. I can always share it with you later.

So while I have ideas for blog posts most days and so many things I want to share, I hope you, my family and friends, understand that at some point, I have to put the iPhone down, step away from the computer and really enjoy each day.

I see my blog becoming more of a photo journal, a way in which I can share my experiences without having to put time aside to sit and write, free of the feeling of guilt that descends when I haven't written for so long.

I hope instead that I will speak to you all via skype, telephone or even more wonderfully, face to face, so that I can fill you in more personally and more importantly, we can exchange ideas and experiences!

If you have come to my blog via a moving to Vancouver website or Google search, please feel encouraged to comment or email me. I am always excited to hear from fellow adventure seekers, expats or new comers to the area, especially if you like to spend your days outside and your evenings on the dance floor...

But for now, I will close the laptop, sit back, take a sip of wine and enjoy the sunset from my balcony.

I'll tweet about it later...


Aimée L’amour x

Seasons in the Park

The beautiful sunset over Vancouver from Seasons in the park restaurant, Queen Elizabeth Park.

Vancouver views

I snapped this at the weekend and wanted to share it as I believe it says a lot more than I ever could in the post below.

Aimée L’amour x

www.twitter.com/aimeelamour

Two countries separated by a common language...

Homelessness: an outsiders eye

I haven't posted a blog in a while. Its not that I don't have anything to say, its just this particular post is one that I knew I wanted to write almost immediately, yet took a little more thought and understanding on my part.

When you think of Vancouver you think of beautiful beaches and mountains, a fantastic lifestyle with lots to explore. You might not however, think of a deeply worrying homeless issue.

I am under no illusions. Every city in every country has its unique issues, but seeing other human beings lying passed out in the middle of busy streets while commuters walk around them is not something I ever expected to see anywhere. When we first arrived the shock of seeing so many people living on the street resulted in me giving money to whoever asked for it. I knew it was probably not the right thing to do but I really couldn't believe what I was seeing. Its not like homelessness doesn't exist in the UK, it does, but I have never in my life seen whole streets of people quite obviously "not of sane mind" and I mean that quite literally. In the last six weeks I have been growled at by a man who seemingly could only make animal noises, shouted and screamed at, abused in the streets for not providing money and wholeheartedly intimidated. I have seen grown men covered head to toe in their own faeces, I have seen many, many people obviously hallucinating and I've seen drugs openly dealt on street corners. Needless to say, I have since learnt it is better to provide food parcels to local food banks instead, which can easily be bought alongside your shopping at Safeway.

What makes me feel even worse is that I, like many Vancouverites, am starting not to see these people. The shock has died down and it is almost normal to me. I never want this to be normal. While I may not have any of the answers, I don't ever want to pretend the homeless population of Vancouver does not exist.

It is glaringly obvious that at the root of the homelessness issue, like many places, is drugs. But I have to say, we have drugs in the UK - why is it that it affects North America so deeply?

The greater Vancouver area has a total population of ~2.2 million and a homeless population of 2,623 (as of the March 2011 homeless count.), with ~731 rough sleepers. However Greater Birmingham, England where I am from has a population of ~3.7 million and only ~303 rough sleepers (source: 2011 homeless report from www.homeless.co.uk).

Vancouver law states that you cannot ask the same person more than once for change, follow a person or ask for change within 10 metres of an ATM (source: BC Civil Liberties Association) however from my experience this only intensifies the desperation of a drug addicted subculture and instead I have found homeless people willing to sell their belongings (which they retrieve from dumpsters and push around the city in shopping trolleys) do impressions, offer to make you laugh and play the spoons on the off chance you will offer up some cash. Instead I just feel uncomfortable and cruel when I say no.

One of the most saddening sights I have seen here was on my very first day in the city. Eager to explore we headed down towards Chinatown. Rounding a corner, in the distance we saw probably 60-100 people gathered on one block with what looked like stalls. As we got closer we began to feel uneasy as we realised that this was no market or local jumble sale. This was the local homeless population selling their belongings to each other to to try and raise some cash for whatever it was they needed that day - be it drugs, food or shelter.

As I write, Vancouver's current Mayor - Gregor Robertson, has been re-elected for a second 3 year term with a focus on homelessness and affordable housing. Indeed, Vision Vancouver states that they intend to end street homelessness by 2015 (http://votevision.ca/issue/affordable-housing-homelessness). However as you may expect, there are already many organisations and projects working towards the same goal (http://www.streetohome.org/projects) and I do wonder what Vision Vancouver plan to do that these projects are missing? It may be that the newcomer in me cannot yet see further into the issue at what needs to change, or is it that maybe more resources put towards cracking down on drug trafficking, drug supply and dealing would better tackle the cause of the issue rather than treat the effect of homelessness?

I can only express what I have found over the last six weeks and I'm sure over time I will come to understand this issue in more depth. But I do know that it is something that has very much played on my mind and will continue to do so.

I hope this documentary made by the Vancouver Police Department can perhaps fill in the gaps that I have missed and help develop a clearer picture of the issues Vancouver face. This is a wonderful city, but that does not mean it can rest on it's laurels.

Aimée L’amour x

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Vancouver, BC!!

We made it! It has been a hectic first week, but I'm finally able to sit down and update you all on what we have been up to and how we have found our first week in our new home.

So, back to last Saturday. We had a minor panic in Seattle when we realised the travelling had finally taken it's toll and we had both sleepily miss read the time of our final coach up to Vancouver and had therefore missed it, but thanks to the lovely lady at Greyhound Seattle we were soon on our way.

Four hours later we arrived at the Samesun Hostel, tired and sick to the back teeth of lugging our bags around!

We chose the Samesun as it seems to be where most Work Canada participants stay, and where almost everyone on the Facebook group that I have mentioned previously were going to be based. We found that it has a lively bar and lots of activities to take part in and serves as a great place to meet people. In fact, less than an hour after we arrived we were sat supping a well deserved beer when I was asked "are you Aimee?" Thank god for that Facebook group! There they were - the faces I had seen online for the last few months, sat in the bar. Some had been there a few months and some had also just arrived - all of them were lovely and made us feel so welcome and calmed our nerves. I look forward to being that friendly face for the next lot of Brits who arrive this weekend.

The Samesun itself is well run and the staff definitely know what they're doing. They were always happy to answer our questions and the rooms themselves were full of plug sockets, clothes hooks,reading lights, large lockers and a handy fan as it was fairly hot when we arrived. It is important to remember however, that it does what it says on the tin. It is a hostel. The bathrooms and showers are generally clean, and I saw them being cleaned often, but there are a lot of people using them. The showers work well and are private - but I would recommend flip flops to step into once you get out. There is some noise late at night and early in the morning, but again - it's a hostel, people are there to enjoy themselves!

Location wise - its great. Right in the heart of downtown, its close to the bars, banks, SWAP office and Service Canada (where you need to go to get your Social Insurance Number). I would definitely recommend a stay here - even if it's just for the people you meet!

Our game plan was work now, play later. We had only booked one week at the hostel and were a little concerned when we heard that it took others up to a month to find somewhere to live. We decided that our best bet was to get out and get our bank accounts, phone line and SIN as quickly as possible and spent every spare minute checking Craigslist, emailing and calling every suitable apartment listing. In 4 days we had a tick next to all four.

Bank account: In Canada you have to pay to have a regular current (or "chequing") account. Crazy! You also get charged for using cash points (or ATM's as I now call them) that aren't run by your bank and can be limited as to how many times you can use your card a month. We went for the TD "unlimited" account, which costs $14.99 a month but means you can use your card as many times as you like online and in shops (or "stores" - I'm getting good at this lingo, eh?!). As I never ever seem to have cash, this was important to me and TD have lots of ATM's around the city.

Telephone: We had bought our unlocked smartphones from the UK, as we had been told we would be able to use a Canadian SIM card in it. Mobile ("cell") phones here are not cheap, and if you want data on your phone - you're going to pay through the nose for it. We found a great deal with Mobilicity, however we found that their SIM will not work with a UK phone and instead ended up going for a $30/pm plan with Fido. This gives us unlimited text to international numbers, unlimited text to Canadian numbers, 200 minutes and free calls after 5pm. Unfortunately in Canada you have to pay for the privilege of actually seeing who is calling ("caller ID"), even if they are a contact in your address book (!), the same goes for a missed call: unless you pay the extra, you will not be told who called! You also have to pay for voicemail. After all this, paying another $25 for 500MB of data (half of what I had with O2 in the UK and the maximum amount of data available) seems more than excessive! I will have to make do with wifi hotspots, at least for now!

SIN: This was actually the easiest thing we had to do. You walk into the Service Canada office, tell them you are here for your SIN, show them your passport with work permit inside and wait for your name to be called. Five minutes and a very, very simple form later (mothers maiden name, are you a twin etc...) and a print out of your SIN is handed to you. The card is then sent 3-4 weeks later to either the office, where you can collect it, or an address you provide. Easy!

Apartment: Before we left the UK we did a lot of research on the kind of areas we would like to live in, the types of accommodation available and the cost. We would watch the listings as they came up and make a note of the areas and buildings we liked. Once we got here, we wrote a standard email telling the advertiser a little about us and asking for a viewing and sent it out to hundreds of potential landlords. The first thing we found is that guys get more replies than girls. We sent the exact same email, but somehow Mr L'amour always got more responses, go figure! The second thing we found was that most of the replies said, "you guys sound great, but sorry - no couples." After a day of emailing we decided to change tactic and use the payphone in the hostel to call the advertisers. This allowed us to set up a day packed full of viewings!

The first apartment we viewed was great - however, as with many Vancouver apartments, we found there were five, yes five other tenants in the 2 bed apartment (one in an office room, two in a single bed storage room and two strangers sharing a double bed.) Thanks, but no thanks. However a second viewing proved more fruitful and we instantly said yes! We moved in two days later. I can't believe after all these months of hard work, I am finally sat here in my "dream apartment". It can be done!

So, what's next? Well this week we start the search for jobs and start to explore our new city! We are off to Granville Island on Thursday and have planned a British get together for Thanksgiving at the weekend.

Things are looking good. No, they're looking great!


Aimée L’amour x

www.twitter.com/aimeelamour