August in Picture Review
My Aunt and Uncle from Australia came to visit us for the first time in 13 years!!! Of course, whenever anyone from outside Greater Vancouver visits, much touring ensues.
One of the many Spirit Bear statues around Vancouver right now. Strangely enough, I saw these bears last year in Tokyo.
A raccoon comes out a bit early in Stanley Park.
A bridge in some big Buddhist Temple downtown. Tons of "Do Not Touch!" signs everywhere, I think the bridge was one of the only things you *could* touch. :P
THE DAISO!! THERE'S A DAISO IN VANCOUVER!! o_O No one around me understood why I was jumping up and down and flagging my uncle to take pictures of it, but I'm sure the JETs understand. ;) I tried to take pictures inside too, but the employees tackled me as soon as they heard my camera turn on. ;_;
We also went picking blueberries at a local farm, and this inchworm invaded our bucket. BTW, this is the FIRST macro shot I've taken that actually turned out well. ^_^b
My Aunt and Uncle loved to cook and were cooking up a storm everyday. The one ingredient that they almost always had to include was fish . . something I never enjoyed eating. But after eating it daily with their awesome seasoning style, I started liking it and now I look forward to fish (well, when it's cooked by them anyway ^^).
I also loved taking pictures of their meals, for example . .
Yes, we're still using the table cloth from Last Christmas for reasons I cannot explain. ^^;
The biggest Vancouver event every summer is the "Celebration of Light" where countries around the world compete in a fireworks shoot-out. We went on the last night to see Mexico, and with all the traffic, ended up taking a nice long walk around English Bay to the fireworks site.
A raccoon watches us from above
I swear, it felt like half of Vancouver was here for the finale
And I still can't take good fireworks pictures. >_<
A mini-rant: After Mexico's performance, the judges, composed of a news anchor and a local contest winner, deliberated for less than a minute and announced that Mexico had won!! I don't get it -- why would you put such a major competition into the hands of firework judges for dummies who probably were greatly affected by the recency effect, ie. they remember the last performance the best (the other countries had been duking it out over 2 weeks with 3 day breaks). Now Mexico's wasn't bad, but I'm just wondering if, say, Italy had gone last instead of first, would Mexico still have won? It's the Psychology Major in me that ponders these things. ;)
And I'm also wondering how this show is economically viable for the countries . . I mean, they spend all the money getting here just to blow up a million dollars worth of fireworks over 25 minutes, only to be judged by dummies which devalues any award they might win, not that anyone outside Vancouver would even know who won. -_-;
But anyway, rant aside, always fun to watch fireworks live and feel those shockwaves, though it didn't hold a candle to the Disneyland one.
Dan was the guy who originally introduced me to JET . . if it wasn't for him, I would've probably never thought of teaching in Japan. ^^ Who's Dan? He was my University roommate in my freshman year . . in an ironic sitcom-esque twist he was a Science One student (toughest freshman year Science course) while I was an Arts One student (toughest freshman year Arts course) . . HOW WILL THEY CO-EXIST?! Thankfully, they co-existed fine, though I did get a bit envious that all the girls that knocked on our door came to see him . . well, there was that one time that someone came to buy my French dictionary, but I digress. ^_^
And what's Science World? It's this big science exhibit that they built on top of Vancouver's Expo '86 site. Anyway, I hadn't been to Science World since I was a kid . . and I think I forgot that the place was for kids. ^^; But I had to check out this summer's Lego Land for myself . . the Lego Sphinx in particular looked life-size on the website!! o_O
Instead, it turned out to be about adult-size. >_<
Trying to steal King Tut's very breakable beard!
I managed to resist the urge. ^_^
So while Lego Land was a bit of a let-down, we still managed to find some other fun exhibitions and games in Science World and at the end of the day, it was great catching-up with my old roommate. :)
Seen on the way back: But if you're not a dancer, what would you be doing at a dance shop?? :P
So I finally got to meet long time friendlisters, Pan (
lelola) and
bluerose25, along with their Canadien friend,
farohji. Originally, I was terrified! For me, meeting people I've only known on-line has always been as daunting as a blind date, ie. "Will I meet their expectations?" And this time, I was meeting THREE online-only people at the same time: ME vs. 3!! o_O
Thankfully, they weren't the cult my mom warned me they'd be, and it turned out to be a really fun afternoon! I always expected Pan and her gang to be really wacky people, bouncing off the walls 24/7, but they're much more laid-back though with the anticipated random acts of spontaneity. ;) Just after a few hours of hanging out with them, I was introduced to so many things that changed my life forever: the meaning of shiny and veto'd, what to do in case of snakes on your plane, the names of Kanjani8's members, the beauty of Subaru and back alleys, and the evilness of flash. I also learned that I sound like Stephanie Beard, wazzupwitdat?! o_O
But by the time I got home, I just collapsed in bed, I was sooo tired. Is 26 already too old for hanging out with 20 year olds? Where did all my youth go, arg!!
Anyway, the group was really camera shy, so here's two pictures from Vancouver Aquarium instead. :)
Yes, there is indeed a Central Park in Vancouver, and I would never have known if it weren't for my park lovin' friend, Grace. Who's Grace? She lived in the sister house of my dorm during my first year, and is the only other UBC friend besides Dan that I've kept in touch with. She's also possibly the busiest person I know, working on her PhD 24/7, but finally we were able to work out a date . . our first meeting in 4 years!! o_O
Isn't this beautiful? It's still my wallpaper of choice two weeks later. ^^
Squirrels exist outside Stanley Park and UBC?! ;)
Grace tries to attract a squirrel with A ROCK and fails. XD Then again, I tried with a leaf and didn't get much action either. I guess squirrels can tell the difference between nuts, rocks and leaves better than we could. :P
The Matsui Double V! Sorta . . ^^
Anyway, it was really great to see Grace again . . she's just one of the most cheerful people I know and it's sooo contagious. You cannot meet Grace and not leave smiling, it's IMPOSSIBLE!! After seeing her, I've returned to my long-forgotten happy and bubbly self. Thanks Grace! ^___^
Due to job interviews, I wasn't able to go with my relatives to Victoria or Capilano Bridge like I had hoped. Oh well, I didn't miss much . . I heard they went to Capilano and didn't go on The Bridge! Isn't that the whole purpose of going to Capilano?? -_-; Anyway, my uncle showed me some of his photos from Victoria and here's some of the stuff they saw . .
Buchart Gardens
More Buchart Gardens
Buchart Sunset
And . . well, this has more to do with Banff than Buchart & Victoria, but isn't this an awesome picture? My uncle's dSLR pwns my prosumer. >_<
Y'know, my predecessor once told me that you never really visit the places near you because since you can visit the places anytime, you just keep putting it off. I think that's the reason why even though I have lived in this province for 24 years, I still have never been to Victoria, Capilano Bridge, or even Whistler!! But dammit, someday I will. When it's not as hot.
We had our Goodbye Lunch at the local Japanese restaurant, where I still get weird looks whenever I try to order in Japanese. :P At least they've finally started to say "thank you" this time . .
I've been watching too many Ayaka Surprise English Lessons. I have more pictures of everyone else, but unfortunately, I couldn't get permission from everyone else to post 'em. =/
And a Goodbye Dinner cooked by my cousin @ her new home. The dinner was . . um, let's just say lime juice and mango don't mix too well. ^^;
And the Unavoidable Goodbye Picture on the Weird Flower Sofa.
Anyway, I really enjoyed my aunt and uncle's month-long stay at our place. For one, it was good to chat with someone in the family who was smiling for a change. ;) For two, I felt so much more energetic and healthy after the overdose of Omega-3 from all those fish meals. And for three, they taught me a lot about cooking and tai-chi . . well, at least they tried. I don't think I have the grace to pull off tai-chi anytime soon, and their cooking pace was so frantic it was hard to follow at times. ^^; But anyway, I'll try to pay more attention when they visit again, hopefully sooner than another 13 years. :)
A visit from the mysterious Backyard Bunny on the 31st. I tried to befriend it by throwing it bread, but apparently rabbits and birds are unrelated species. :(