Vancouver
is a lovely space, the site of our summer home for 5 weeks this year. The top 10 reasons why I am becoming enamored
with the city:
10.
Living next to a Chinese mall: Although it feels strange to live connected to
a mall, it has its advantages, perhaps like living in the airport (Tom Hanks/The
Terminal and Edward Snowden/Moscow).
Bank, post-office, food court, multiple top-notch restaurants, bakery,
grocery, upscale boutiques, book store, Daiso (Japanese $2 store) are just a
few weather-proofed steps away. For Dad,
whose walking radius is increasingly limited, this is a big bonus. Also, we are adjacent to a Skytrain stop that
provides quiet streamlined access to other parts of
Vancouver.
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| Downtown Vancouver, departure for Alaska, by boat, seaplane |
9.
Summer
weather: Although cloudy most of the
year, the summer is a pristine time here.
It is constantly intensely sunny (1 rainy day in 25), but comfortably
temperate (75-82) and dry (60%), and mosquito-free so the homes and condos have
no screens … you can leave windows open!
8.
Scenery, THE outdoors: I can see estuary, river, sea,
forest, islands, and mountains (some with residual snow), all in a single panoramic
scan. My big outdoor challenge was
completing the ‘Grind’ in above average time, a 2,800 vertical ft hike up
Grouse Mountain … they even waive the hefty entry fee
if you survive it!
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| Near death experience on the 'Grind' |
7.
Ethnicity
and diversity: Vancouver is about 41% Asian, 33%
Chinese. In
Richmond where we reside, it is about 97%
Chinese, signage in Chinese, both mandarin and Cantonese speaking, akin to being
in H.K. Many women shield themselves
from the sun with umbrellas, to prevent melanocytes from discoloring their skin
(orthopedic osteoporotic heaven!). The nouveau
riche from mainland
China
are buying up condos and homes (replacing them with mega mansions) with suitcases cases full of $’s and
not bargaining on price i.e. hiding the maximum amount of ?illicit
money from the Chinese gov’t without a paper trail.
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| Nitobe Japanese Garden |
6.
Chinese
food, and more: Vancouver is a foodie’s heaven. A number of Chinese food critics rate it the
best Chinese food in
North America. I agree.
It is
broad within Chinese Cantonese dim sum (lunch dumplings), Shanghainese,
Taiwanese, Szechuanese, Hainanese, hot pot … many food booths specializing in
comfort foods typically made in homes, e.g. bingzi (large pan fried dumplings
with chives, mung bean threads and egg).
This is what Teri so loved. It is
broad within the Asian, and we’ve eaten Japanese, Korean, and
Vietnamese. Last night, I ate outstanding
Indonesian that can only be found in DC or SF.
It is
deep with many outstanding restaurants in each subcategory,
not just 1. It is also
cost-effective,
a single rice platter at the food court with your choice of 3-4 meat,
veggie, dofu toppings = $6.99 and feeds both of us for a meal. Why cook?
5. Canadians
money and trust: The new paper money
is colorful and shiny, partly see through with an imbedded holographic image – each
denomination has its easily distinguishable color: 5–blue, 10–lavender, 20–green, 50–red,
100-brown. Rarely crinkled, usually
crisp. AND, as of several months
ago, returned change is rounded to the nearest 5c (as pennies are being phased out): 1, 2c are rounded down to 0c and 3, 4 up to
5c. But substantial pocket (e.g. $10) change can still
accumulate in the form of $1 'loonies' and $2 ‘toonies'. Street parking can be charged using your
phone and will alert you for an extension when your paid time is almost
up. The Skytrain (subway) runs on an HONOR
SYSTEM! The turnstiles and exits are left
open. No one on duty. The sky train is remotely run, no
driver. TRUST! Mindboggling.
Can you imagine that in the States?
4.
Father’s
friends: Although he speaks less and
is becoming more frail and confused, his friends (mostly artists, art
historians, art critics and ex-graduate students) still revere him. We are invited out weekly. My
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| Dad on a rough day |
friends include a GI person, Tai Chi
buddies, and his friends. This trip, he
was given 1 painting and 6 books, catalogs or published monographs (mostly written
by or about the donor), and he gave catalogs of his Chinese ink painting exhibition at
the Harvard and Phoenix museums. I was
given two paintings and 1 catalog. If I were amongst
GI friends, we would trade endoscopic stories and … emesis basins? Not the same.
 |
| Artists, art historians, art critics & pediatric GI doc |
3.
Bike
paths: Although a major city,
dedicated bike paths, marked (sometimes elevated) bike lanes carved out of busy
thoroughfares lead everywhere. Bikes are welcome on buses and
Skytrains. Bike bridges traverse rivers under Sky trains.
The bike lanes are so friendly that the push button to change the
traffic light at major intersections is placed at curbside, bike height. Interestingly, a number of the bike paths have raspberry bushes along them and I see people stopping to pick and eat them - what a berry good idea for a natural treat. On my 25 y/o chrom-molyb-steel bike, I’ve been
able to put in 50-70 miles per week during 3 rides. NO CAR FOR 5 WEEKS, JUST 2 feet, 2 wheels, train wheels and boat.
2. Chinese
Tai Chi master Paul Tam: I have become
a Tai Chi pupil under si fu (master) Paul Tam at the CLF Kung Fu Club after
being introduced by Jack and Mary. Once
I saw his style, I realized, although I had studied Tai Chi at Milwaukee’s Tai Chi Center for 2 years, beginning
with Teri, I really didn’t grasp it. He
teaches Chen’s (original form of Tai Chi) Tai Chi 24, 18, 1st routine, 2nd
routine, and sword in Cantonese, Mandarin and English and has studied with
Chen’s descendants. After looking at my
form for 30 secs, he told me to start over.
I’m taking classes 3X/week for 4½ hours and am improving. This is a long-term project.
1.
Chinese
immersion experience: So what of
this annual sojourn? Will it
continue? Will it be my father’s
last? I hope so and I don’t know. But studying Chinese, by computer and with a tutor,
hearing daily mandarin (Teri's dialect) and Cantonese (my father's), using my everyday (putong hua) Chinese in the
stores, and practicing Tai Chi is like a summer immersion experience. At once, it makes me feel dumb and awkward since I don’t speak more Chinese in this rich multilingual environment, but it challenges me daily, and causes new neurons in my brain and aching muscles to
fire. That’s the most important. I'm still firing, and alive!
