The Canada Adventure: Day 3: Friday June 3rd

Friday 1000

   Rolled out of bed a few hours ago. Eldest is lucky that he didn't take the room I'm staying in. The mattress is shot. When you lay on in, you roll to the right. I was very sore & stiff when I woke up.

 Didn't have any breakfast (forgot to buy morning food at the store), showered & got ready. Eldest is in the bathroom getting ready for the day.

    We talked to Landlady last night. So far I've encountered a few words that I didn't understand (gumboots are galoshes or rubber boots), learned that Wal-Mart has only two stores in Vancouver, there are no Sam's Clubs (HOW DO THESE PEOPLE FUNCTION?????), when folks are talking they pronounce 'ou' as 'oo like 'aboot' rather than 'about', and that Canada no longer uses a paper $1 bill (they have $1 & $2 coins which are called 'loonies' and 'toonies' respectivly).

 Friday 22:30

 So far today Eldest got an account set up at a local bank where they advertise that they speak 9-10 different languages and they have a Sikh guard. Then we took the bike to the shop for an estimate. The clerk  determined that the repairs would equal a new 'low-end throwaway bike' but this one repaired would be more immune to theft. I also asked about local biking laws, since this is a very large biking community. He said that they have a helmet law but they cannot enforce it. There is a large Sikh population and they never remove their turbans in public, so they can't wear their helmet. The police will then pull over anyone not wearing a helmet and give you a ticket for not having a bell on your bike.

    We drove downtown for a little bit and found Gastown (think Bricktown), Chinatown (think..well, Chinatown, for gosh sakes), the waterfront where the cruise ships come in, and then we learned that you DO NOT follow the road signs. We were trying to locate Canada Highway 1 East and followed the signs. We were in 10k of bumper to bumper residential traffic before we hit the highway. We were almost back home.

   Eldest then met with the local youth pastor (offspring of the landlords) and found that the church is heading the direction that Lifechurch is already at. Eldest seemed excited to be getting involved.

   I tried to buy some stuff (extention cord, etc) and found the Real Canadian Superstore. This is why they don't have Wal-Mart of Sam's. The stores are multistory and the escalators are called Movators. They do not have steps, but are an inclined moving ramp that you can put your shopping cart on. I also located a Home Depot, it's right next to Bridge Studios where MGM films Stargate-SG1, Stargate Atlantis and Dead Like Me are filmed.

   Later we went to dinner and then tried to find a Texas Hold 'Em game at a casino. No luck there (har har), but I tried my hand at craps (not as good at that game as my Dad was) and we watched some of the card games.

  We were watching 3 card Poker when one of the guys at the table turned to the woman next to him and said "I can't believe that Jared is standing behind me."

She looked confused and asked "Jared who?"

"Jared, the Subway guy, is standing behind me for God's sake."

Eldest thought that was VERY funny.

 We drove around a little bit more and found some neon signs & snapped some photos.