Whitecaps

Yesterday, S., M., A. and I went to see a Whitecaps game. For you non-Vancouverites, the Whitecaps is Vancouver's soccer team (as I found out a few days ago...). We got an amazing deal thanks to S.: ticket, hot dog, fries, and pop for 25$! The stadium was right by my house too, which was nice for the commute home.

The game was exciting, the hot dog somewhat disappointing, the mini donuts purchased at half-time were divine, and I was feeling very Vancouverite-tish indeed. It's nice to be in a crowd, cheering for your home team. I don't know why I felt as if it was a rite of passage, but I did. And now, I feel as if I can finally say that "I'm from Vancouver".

Strange that my last post was also about loving this city. Stranger still that this seems so important to me. But there you have it! Come visit me, you non-Vancouverites... and I'll convert you (if it's the summer, in the winter the rain will keep you running).

Surprisingly Vancouver day

Today was a very good day. A very good Vancouver-themed day. Full of activities and food, most of which I never would have thought that I would enjoy before moving to Vancouver. Truthfully, I don't think that Vancouver really has anything to do with it, time does. People change, I change, and its just easier to see such changes when I can cut my life up into chunks... and what better chunks than cross-country moves?

The day started with getting a pedicure with S. It was her first "real" pedicure, and it was the first time that I was paying for one myself. We really enjoyed the pampering, foot rubs, leg massages, and little white flowers that appeared on our big toes!

We then proceeded to an ice cream heaven: Marble Slab I think it was called. You choose your ice cream, your mix-ins, and then mix it all up on a marble slab (hence the name) before putting it in a freshly made waffle cone. Scrumptious to say the least. Now, my enjoying ice cream while sitting on a beach is not a new activity in itself. The surprise came half-way through eating: I was full, and really, there was just too much ice cream, and it was just too sweet!?! Good grief. I'm loosing my high tolerance to sugar.

The food surprises did not end there. I had been invited to my aunt and uncle's house for supper: barbecued prawns and sockeye salmon collars. On a previous visit to Vancouver, during my undergrad, I remember visiting with my aunt and uncle and eating B.'s yummy barbecued prawns. Since then, prawns and lobster have been tied as my favorite food. But today, the sockeye salmon collars were even better than the prawns! Gasp! Me, Aki, who used to snub my nose at all cooked fish, ate so much fish that I didn't even have room for E.'s lovely berry cobbler!

So there we have it. People change, I change, my taste buds change... and I love Vancouver!

Blueberries

At the beginning of the summer, I decided to volunteer at the Pocket Farmer's Market up on Burnaby mountain. I thought that it would be fun to meet new people and to spend time outside. On my first day I learned that there was another perk to being a volunteer at the market: I get to buy things at wholesale price! Which means that I get 20-50% off everything we sell there!

All this to say that on Wednesday, I dragged myself out of bed (I was/am very sick with a ghastly summer head cold) and to school for the sole purpose to buying blueberries. It was the first week that they were ready and I was having visions of blueberry smoothies. These visions came from my new-found love for Booster Juice.

I had been carefully avoiding buying any of their smoothies, mainly because they are expensive, but also because they serve them in Styrofoam cups. (which by the way they have an "information sheet" about saying that Styrofoam is better for the environment than paper or plastic cups!? One of their main points was that there's less Styrofoam in dumps than plastic, so that must mean that Styrofoam creates less pollution!?! umm... logic?) But a few weeks ago I had one, I can't remember why, though I seem to recall that I justified it to myself because of the protein booster that will help me build muscles for dragonboating (yes, rationalization, I know) and now I'm hooked. Especially by their "Berry Cream Sensation". Last time I was ordering one, I looked at the fruit list, and the only special item that I didn't put in my smoothies at home was blueberries. Hence the blueberry mission.

It's been two days now, and three attempts at recreating the famed "Berry Cream Sensation", no luck. I think that I've finally figured out why: I don't add sugar, ice cream, or any sugar-substitute... so my smoothies are just not as good. On the plus side, they are probably healthier, and definitely cheaper. And reusable glass cups that I can wash out are definitely more eco-friendly than Styrofoam cups!

Nanaimo Regatta

To quote a fellow teammate C. "This was probably the best weekend I've had... well in at least 4 years!"

I concur. And I've had amazing weekends, like just the one last week camping. But there was something unique about sharing the energy, excitement, and spirit of another 20-odd teammates. After coming together for only 4 practices, I was truly surprised to see how well we all got along. (Half of Team Nanaimo was from Concord Pacific Flying Dragons One, and the other half was from my original team CP Flying Dragons Too.)

First race, first place. Second race, second place by half a second. This set our tone for the rest of the weekend: "No Frickin' Way!". Still, our times are good enough to put us in the semi-finals for Diamond A division, second from the top and a lot higher than our original goals were! Time to celebrate, we are all off to the beer garden for the paddlers party. With the expection of a long Elvis impression bit, the night was amazing. If you'd have been there you would have seen a great circle of amazing dancers right at the front next to the stage having the time of their lives. That would have been us. Even while partying the team stayed together, danced together (lots of sweat sharing...), and drank together. All under a beautiful sky that went from sunny, to orange and pink sunset, to dark blue with stars.

Third race, we get hit on the right side by another boat, our steersman D. yells "Keep paddling" and we do, and bam! another first place finish, which puts us in the final for Diamond A division. Then, it's time for the last race, if we place anywhere but last we get a medal. There's No Frickin' Way we're going to loose this one. F., our team manager, tells us to paddle angry. And we do! On the finish, our drummer M. sees that we are loosing ground and starts bellowing No Frickin' Way over and over again and she feels our boat surge ahead. And guess what? Yet another first place finish!! This time for GOLD.

Now unfortunately, when planning my bus ticket down to Victoria I didn't leave time for a first place finish and an award ceremony. So I was off to the bus depot before getting my medal. Luckily my fellow teammate P. has my medal, and I plan to where it for a whole day once I finally do get my hands on it!

Here's a tease though: Our jersey, our medal. Thanks to Herbert Yen for the picture!

Summer is here!

15 degrees of heat up from from yesterday to today. Ouf!

Well I guess that after all that complaining about being cold over the weekend, I shouldn't be groaning now. Summer is finally here, and making itself known. I felt it especially when out in False Creek paddling. The sun was glaring down on us, and I couldn't seem to find my hat in my rush to leave the house this morning, so my eyes received a beating. Still, it was nice to feel its heat on my skin, and on my face.

Nanaimo on Friday, it'll be a hot weekend! Should be fun! :)

Chilliwack

Camping!! :D

It's Monday, and I hurt... My legs hurt, my left bum cheek especially hurts, my feet hurt, and strangely my left tricep hurts too! But it's all worth it: I got to go exploring out of Vancouver last weekend!

On Friday, J. and V. came to pick me up early. Well, not that early, but I was up much earlier than they arrived, like a child on Christmas morning! I kept busy by packing, cooking, and deciding to bake cookies at the last minute (from batter that I found in my freezer that had been there since Christmas! Somewhat questionable...). We then made our way to Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park. After a slight scare (there was a sign saying that the campground was full), we found a good spot: lot #1 (we're number one!). I got "le mammouth" out, and I was happy.

We then decided to hike up to Greendrop Lake: 10.4 km return, Elev. Gain 354m according to the park sign. On the way, we passed by Lindeman Lake, which was simply gorgeous. It had blue water, really really blue. Clear, and freezing. After that the trail became like an obstacle course, going over rock falls, through mud, and over rivers. Greendrop Lake wasn't as impressive as Lindeman was, but the scenery was still breathtaking. The evening brought the knowledge that it costs 7.50$ for a tiny bundle of dry wood. Luckily our neighbors were prepared and had ample logs that they very generously shared with us. So we were able to keep warm around the fire, and J. played my mandolin, way better than I can. It kind of motivated me to continue my practice. Perhaps tomorrow!

The next day we dedicated to another hike, this time to Radium Lake: 16 km return, Elev. Gain 900m according to its sign. Luckily is wasn't any higher, there was plenty of snow at the 900m level! Now that was a hike! It seemed to get steeper and steeper, and also colder and colder on the way up. But we were very proud to get there, and feasted on onigiri at the top. Our big scare on the way down was a close encounter with a black bear!! Yikes! Now, luckily for me I wasn't in the front, so I didn't see it. After that we did a lot of talking and singing old camp songs.

J. at the end of the Radium Lake hike. Any higher and we'd be in the clouds, and knee deep in snow... in July?!

Sunday morning we were all understandably tired, and so we decided to take a break from the hiking and went berry picking instead! We went to a small farm on the way back and got our hands on raspberries and strawberries. They are now all washed and the strawberries are separated from their tops, frozen in my freezer, awaiting my very first independent jam attempt. More on that once it gets done.

V.'s wondering where the path to Greendrop Lake is amidst all the rivers! Hiking's fun when it's part of an obstacle course!

Out of Hibernation

Hello folks! And happy Canada Day!

It's been months, I know.

I've been thinking for the past few weeks that I wanted to blog, but then I kept waiting for a great momentous occasion to send me back to write my first returning post. Alas, no luck. But then I got motivated once more by a fellow dragon boat (yes I'm paddling now!! More on that later I'm sure) team member M. She had recently added me on Facebook and decided to check out my blog.... and was disappointed to see: no recent posts. This was very motivating for me because it meant that even though I haven't been checking my blog, perhaps others are!

So I'm back!

I decided to write this morning in particular because when I woke up 30 minutes before my alarm (I was excited to be hiking up the Chief in Squamish with another friend M.), I tried to stay in bed to fall back asleep. When I found I couldn't, I found myself thinking

"Mom always said that resting is almost as good as sleeping, so I should just lie here and rest for the next half-hour."

Which led me to think: when, if ever, will I stop thinking things along the lines "Mom/Dad always said..."? Your thoughts?

So voilà! The chronic of the journey into adulthood is reopened.

[As a side note, a few minutes after thinking I should lie there and rest, I was up and about. I wonder if that's remnant teenage rebellion, or just general antsyness to get going?]