7/13-7/30
Richmond, British Columbia, Canada is just a bit of Hong Kong. The signage, the food court, the fresh and cooked foods, the people are all either Cantonese or Mandarin, or often both. The banker we deal with speaks Cantonese to my father, Mandarin to Teri and English to me … within the same sentence. And, different from the U.S., with veneration of the elderly, they are very patient with the geriatric population. The realtor, banker, furniture salesman, car rental agent, refridgerator repairman, doorman are all Chinese or Asian. 95+% of the people we see on the street and in the food courts are Chinese.
We did eat our share of fresh seafood. Everybody appears to be eating out. No one seems to be cooking. Eating lobster was $10/lb, while king crab was $24/lb and regular crab was $40 (Can $ = US 0.95). We considered the fresh king crab but last time we did this with a group, the dinner was >$400, largely from the crab. But mostly what we eat are home and comfort foods, seafood congee, won ton noodles with beef tendon, different dumplings, a fried pastry stuffed with spinach, egg and bean threads.
Ben & B and were glued to the defensie-dominated World Cup final between victorious Spain and Germany. We couldn’t get the Tour de France. We did get the Internet.
On Rachel and John’s (and little Jack’s) last day, we took everyone up to Grouse Mountain, the local ski slope some 15 minutes north of downtown looking over the whole of Vancouver from 4000 feet. A large gondola carrying 100 riders took us up near the peak. John and Rachel took a ski lift further and saw snow on the ground – we could see snow capped peaks in the near distance. There was a bald eagle show, a lumber jack show, zip lines and hiking, attempting to turn it into a commertial summer playground. Many wearing skimpy athletic wear the cool temperatures had hiked from the bottom of the mountain with a computer card that timed them and sorted them into age and sex categories that were displayed on a live screen.
Over the next two days, Dad began to get short of breath when he walked to the elevator or the food court. Once when he leaned over to put on his loafers, his lips and face turned temporarily purple. We took him to the clinic to visit. Within 5 minutes, after paying the $75 Canadian, they took him back to the exam room. Dr. Wang spoke to him in Chinese while I did so in English. We thought that he may have accumulated fluid in his lungs either from the stopping of his diuretic 2 months previous or because of the altitude at the top of Grouse Mtn (although the Dr. disagreed). I recommended trying him back on the diuretic. We didn’t let him walk – using the rolling walker as wheel chair. He seemed to stabilize. We just wanted to return him to Milwaukee is stable shape.
Dad sponsored a banquet for friends, mostly artists, celebrating his birthday and mine. A 10 course seafood banquet with lobster, shrimp, scallops … A former graduate student Mary and husband Jack took Teri over to their Tai Chi – Chi Gong master who gave Teri some specific exercises for different symptoms. Teri was also given a painting by an outstanding flower and birth painter who lives in Vancouver.
Because so many chefs have moved to Vancouver from Hong Kong, they say that the Chinese food is as good as Hong Kong, possibly 2nd best in North American second only to Toronto. We also heard that the fastest growing immigrant group is from mainland China. The $ amount for ‘bought’ citizenship used to be 400K but now is up to 1,000,000. The deal is that you loan it to the Canadian government for 5 years interest free (the gov’t earns the interest) and at the end of five years you get the principal back and become an automatic citizen. The have gamed the system as there are Chinese companies who load the principal to the Chinese who have to pay them a high rate of interest but the individuals don’t have to come up with the principal. That is why the gov’t has raised the ante. We also heard about Chinese who are buying property without bargaining and with a suitcase full of cash, presumably cadres who have skimmed money and want to launder as much money as possible without an electronic trail.
Returned home safely on 7/18. No mishaps. Took Dad to his internist who kept him on the diuretic.
Terri Lin, Terri’ senior as opposed to Teri junior stayed for 10 days. Cooking, shopping, cleaning and making herself handy and supportive. AND sitting out on the porch with her feet up.
Dad’s helpers Edgar and Gioban are helping a great deal and keeping his place organized, gotten him to the doctor or grocery store on occasion, and his lunch taken care of.
Trying to plan for some travel next month to see Rachel & Johbn during her upcoming baby shower next month. Things are going well. Baby is kicking. Rachel feels great.
“Nothing like nausea!” It can fell a grown woman or man and but them in bed. Appears to be antibiotic related. Zofran, high dose Zofran, dexamethasone, ginger, acupressure no help … finally Marinol and off antiobiotic helped. After they were stopped Teri improved even while on chemotherapy.
Although Teri does not go out as much, we enjoy sitting outside on our balcony in the evenings, watching the boats go by on the Milwaukee River. B finished The Sportswriter by Richard Ford given to him by Ben with the internal dialog of a middle aged man going through a mid-life crisis. We saw the movie The Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo and B then read the Girl who played with Fire given to him by Rachel … intensely evil people and intriguing lead woman character.
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