Wednesday, August 14, 2018 — Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada!
I’ve been here for eleven days and haven’t written a damn thing about it, sorry. Let’s just say I was on first impressions overload. So many things! So little brain function! I really need to start keeping a notebook so I don’t forget everything before I can write about it.
Anyway. Here are a few impressions:
- Canada is just like the U.S.! (Only different! It feels like an alternate universe! Only better!)
- Vancouver feels a lot like San Francisco! (And it’s huge!)
- Vancouver is very diverse! Lots of Asians! (Which may explain why I keep thinking I’m in San Francisco!)
- Converting mph to kmh (kilometers per hour) is confusing! Especially at 120 kmh!)
- Traffic signals are confusing too! Some green lights flash and some don’t! (I finally asked my friend, Atli the Bus Driver, for clarification and now I know I can drive right through!)
- Canadian dollars are worth less than American dollars! (But prices are higher, especially gas prices!)
- Gas is sold by the liter in Canada, and I can’t figure it out for the life of me!
- Some Vancouverites save money by crossing the border and buying gas, etc., in Seattle! (I’m gonna do that too!)
- They call the U.S. the States here! Or America, even though they’re in North America too! (But I already knew that!)
- Canada doesn’t have dollar (or two-dollar) bills! (They’re coins!)
- No pennies either!
- Canadians in different regions have different accents, just like Americans!
- It’s very smoky here! (Lots of fires, just like the western U.S.)
- I haven’t yet seen any signs of poverty or obviously homeless people!
- But I have seen lots of van/RV-dwellers! (Cops don’t seem to care, as long as they’re legally parked!)
- When people find out I’m American, they want to know what I think of that guy in the White House! Then they shake their heads and ask what we were thinking! (I tell them that’s what I want to know!)
- U.S. Border Patrol guards used to be friendly to Canadians but my friends here tell me that’s all over now! (They seem to think everyone is dying to live there — ha!)
- I want to live in Canada! (Not possible, but I CAN spend lots of time here, and I plan to!)
- There are some right-wingers here but Canadians are watching the U.S. political mess very closely, and won’t allow a repeat! (I hope!)
- Canada is very strict about gun control!
- It feels much calmer here, and safer! It’s so relaxing to know I won’t get killed by a crazed, fascist, white supremacist!
Okay, that’s all I can think of for now. Sorry for all the exclamation points. I guess I haven’t quite calmed down yet.
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