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Last Entry in Vancouver

I can't believe it... This is my last day in Vancouver... Before I know it, it's already been 4 months. It's been such an eventful 4 months. I'm having mixed feelings leaving here. On one hand, I'm so happy that I'll be able to see my family and my dear again, happy to be eating good, proper Asian food again (so tired of Western food), but I'm so sad to leave my friends here. When I was leaving Singapore, at least I know that I would be going back to Singapore in 4 months. But now, I don't know when I'll be able to see my friends here.

I would still update this blog just to fill in the missing pieces of my stay here. So this blog will be sort of a blog of what I did in Vancouver.

Goodbye Vancouver.
Goodbye my friends.

More snow!!!

OK. I'm obsessed with snow. Haha. The snow got heavier, and I could capture the snow even without using flash.

Snow is the only redemption of winter. The whiteness contrasts so much with the greyness of winter. Without snow, winter is really just a gloomy season. Yet, in this gloomy season, there is one of nature's greatest beauty, snow.

I went out to take some more pictures. I must have a whole lot of pictures of snow already. Haha. Here are some of my favourites so far:

Snowing!!!

This is so exciting. It started snowing last night. It wasn't supposed to start snowing in Vancouver till January, but this year snow came early. It's so beautiful outside now. Looking at the snow fall and cover everything. I couldn't believe it when Bernard told me over MSN it was snowing. He saw it through his window. I rushed out, and true enough, there was snow! I almost cried out in joy. Immediately, I rushed around like a madman to tell Rui Nie and Butterfly. Haha. Soon, there was a whole bunch of swa-ku Singaporeans (plus one Hong Kong-er) outside the dorm looking at the snow.

Tried to take some pictures in the dark with flash, still not too bad:







Just a night of snow is enough to cover the ground, and turn everything white. I woke up early today just to look at the snow. I even took photos in the snow! But it was really too cold. I totally underestimated the coldness. I thought I'll only take a while to take the pictures, so I just wore T-shirt, trackpants, jacket and sandals. No way am I going to do that ever again:

Anthropology results

Maybe I should have taken an Anthropology Major here in UBC or something. Haha. Just got back my take-home mid-terms essays. Got a freaking 91! 81 for my review essay last month. 8.9/10 for my class presentation. What can I say? After calculating the percentage weightage etc, even if I get 0 for class attendance/participation (which is impossible since I attend every class and participate quite often), and I get 0 for my final exams, I'll still pass the module!

3rd W@lker article

Here's the 3rd, and last, one. My personal favourite. Because it's just so short and sweet. It's also one that makes me terribly ashamed of myself sometimes after reading. What have I been doing with my life?

A Prayer of Life

10 people were gathered at a prayer session. The leader initiated a discussion on prayers and they started with how often each of them pray.

“5 times a day!” said one.

“10 times!”

“7!”

Those who claimed to pray often beamed with pride while those who only said “2” or “3” bowed their heads low.

Finally, an old man of about 50 or so gave an answer that shocked everyone. “All the time!” he said.

Everyone turned their heads towards him and stared at him. How could such a thing be possible? How can anyone pray all the time without doing anything else? People began to think how shameless a lie this old man could actually tell.

Noticing the stunned look on their faces, the old man proceeded to explain himself.

“I offer my whole life as a prayer to God. All my actions, all my deeds, everything I do, are prayers to Him. Are not prayers of action of more value than prayers of words? Am I then, not praying all the time?”

- Brings a whole new meaning to “Action speaks louder than words”

W@lker

(First printed 25^th May 2003)

2nd W@lker article

Here's the 2nd one:

Friends Forever?

Recently, one of my female friends had been deeply troubled by problems with her best friend, a ‘he’, at that. Apparently, she felt that the friendship was changing. Her really pinning for his companionship every so often without getting any, while him being busy with his own work. Worse was when she happened to stumble upon something he wrote about his best friend, with mention to another guy and not her.

A friendship lost? I’m sure many of us have faced similar situations before, I myself included. How funny it is that when faced with a similar situation, one is not able to find the words to console oneself, yet one can stumble upon realisation and facts to comfort others when others face those problems. When lost in the maze, it is so hard to find the right turns to bring oneself out of it. When out of the maze, looking at it with a bird’s eye view, it is yet so easy to guide another, lost in the maze, out of it. Logic does not prevail in the lost; panic and fear does.

But thank God others too experience similar problems, and that they may bring it to us, and in trying to comfort them, we learn of truths of which are comforting to ourselves as well. Thus, the next time someone forth a problem to you, do not feel bothered by it, for God might have just given you a chance to help yourself.

Friends come and go. Different people accompany you through different periods of your life. Although the word “best” is usually used to describe only one, yet not one but many have filled up the position of “best friend”, each at different times. Perhaps we should change our concept of “best friend” to “best friend of the moment”? Some “best friends” last longer than others. In the end, you might even be able to find one that last you for the rest of your life. However, undeniably, everyone had had more than one “best friend” in his or her lifetime.

Is “friends forever” an impossible concept then? Are friends just some tangible, expendable objects that are there when you need them and disposed of when you do not?

Luckily, it is not really as gleam as it seems. It’s more of that people have been looking in the wrong direction in the pursuit of friendship. When you look deeper, beyond the level of human friendship, you’ll realise there’s a friend that has always been beside you all along, appearing in so many forms that you do not realise his presence. How many times have we heard of the phrase “See the God in the people around you” without realising He is especially present in the friends around you? He is the friend that has always been beside you, in the form of the many different friends that have been beside you at different times.

He knows better than ourselves that we need friends, especially on who would stand beside us tiding us through storms of difficulty. That is why He has sent that one close friend to each of us, that one who seems to be of so much help as of that moment. Is that not why we and that person have became such good friends in the first place, that he or she has stood by us, helping us so much in times of difficulties?

Why then, has He allowed the friend to leave us, to leave us alone seemingly without friendship?

He did not.

The person may have left but friendship has not. In clinging on to that one single person, we fail to see the existence of friendship in others. True, that one special person may have left, but look around and we’ll find others who have moved in to fill up that need. In the pursuit of one human, we fail to see the friendship of that one God; in the pursuit of temporary, tangible relief, we fail to see the invisible, everlasting love of God.

Looking from another angle too, let us ask ourselves: Are we so selfish, if that person had been very good at helping us, to deny others of his or help? Just as we needed his or her help, perhaps another is also in dire need of that aid. Perhaps God has simply redirected him or her to aid another person for a while. If He had meant for the two of you to enjoy a friendship that lasts longer, do not worry, for He will direct him or her back again at some other point. Don’t you too experience incidents when you may have lost contact with some one for months or years only to have him or her to reappear again to play a crucial part in your life again?

Or are we so selfish as to think that we’re the only ones in need of help and that special friend needs no help whatsoever? Everyone has his limitations. Perhaps it is not within our limits to help that friend at this time and God has simply gotten another to offer him the help through that period?

Likewise, when God directs another person to you for your help, it is your turn to give him or her that help and friendship, instead of just trying to cling on to another. Give freely as others have given you so that others may see God in you.

Let us, instead of asking for friendship, give friendship freely. When that special friend seems so occupied with his or her own matters, seems more occupied with other people, seems to have been neglecting you, do not lament. Instead, as a true friend as you claim yourself to be, stand by him or her during the hard times. Be there ready for him or her.

However, do not feel ashamed to tell your friend about your burdens, your problems, or simply how you’ve been doing. Contrary to what many believe, it is never a burden to hear from another person his or her worries, life, or achievements, no matter how irrelevant or how little one can help. Rather, by sharing, not only can you lighten your own load, but it also serves to show the other person that you do think about him or her and that he or she is special enough for you to share your life with. Do so especially when you feel that person had been neglecting you, for everyone needs a reminder now and then that there’s still someone special there and that someone cares. Once again, it is the point of not just asking, but giving.

Perhaps many of us have just been asking for friendship, without realising that it should be given instead. Instead of asking for friends, we should be friends to others. St. Francis asked God to grant that he may seek not so much to be loved as to love. How applicable it is to friendship. Seek not so much to have friends as to be friends to others. So the next time, instead of asking: “Hi! Would you like to be my friend?” ask: “Hi! Can I be your friend?”

I am W@lker and I too stretch out my hand and say the same to all of you.

“Hi! Can I be your friend?”

W@lker

(First done 4^th July 2003)

Intermission

An intermission here. A break from just reporting my activities here in Vancouver. I was browsing through my hard disk, and I came upon these 3 articles by this guy called W@lker. I didn't realise I had kept these articles for 2 whole years, actually, more than 2 years. Think I'll share it out with you people here. I read these 3 articles more than 2 years ago, and yet when I read them again now, they gave me different feelings. What do you think of these 3 articles by W@lker?

First up:

A Walk on the Beach

Once, I found myself on a beach, without exactly knowing why I was there. It was just an urge inside me; a magnetism pull brought me there, telling me to take a walk on the soft brown sand, beside the blue sea. Have you ever had a sudden felling that you want, or even need, to go to a certain place or make a certain move? Well, that was it. It is, perhaps, this kind of magnetic effect between things that causes two people to come together without realisation of why they’re attracted to each other. Only after they’ve gotten together, they grow to know, for better or for worse, each other better and why they’ve gotten together in the first place.

As I stood on one end of the beach looking to the other, I made it my goal. A goal! A purpose! What a wonderful thing; something to work towards. Even in the smallest, most insignificant things, we try to find a purpose in them. Having a goal is akin to seeing a light in a long, dark tunnel, leading us to walk on towards it. The joy and hope it brings simply cannot be described with words. Walking and reaching the jetty at the other end of the beach became my goal then.

Yet, the end seemed so far away; so unreachable. How was I supposed to achieve it? Doubt creeps in. Oh well. Let me just take a first step. A step is always so small and easy. One step, then another, and another! Putting one foot in front of the other, taking these small, easy steps, I found myself moving towards that goal. When I finally took a stop in my tracks and had a good look, the end did not seem that far away anymore. A bit more distance to cover and I would have reached it. Funny how these seemingly insignificant, small, and easy steps, one by one, could allow me to cover such a large distance, bringing me closer to the goal, without me even realizing it.

However, when I turned around to look behind, a wave of sorrow swept over me. In moving towards the goal, I had moved so far away from where I started off. Just as I thought the end was far when I was standing at the beginning, then I felt the beginning was so far away from me. Isn’t the walk of life similar in a way? When you first started off, everything seemed so far and unreachable. Moving slowly, a day at a time, the next “checkpoint” seemed so much closer than you first thought. Before you know it, that “checkpoint” becomes a part of your life history and you are moving on to your next. In the process, however, you are moving away from where you started. Then you realize: innocence is lost. For some, they have travelled so far from their homes, their roots, their families. Looking back, you realise, in the process, you have gained much – and lost much.

By this time, darkness has crept in. The change from dusk to night went so fast, I felt I had not enough time to appreciate the beauty of the beach. I wished for more light to see my surroundings more clearly. Just then, realisation struck me hard. A smile broke out on my face. I began to laugh at myself for my silliness, that I actually wanted more light to see better. I started to appreciate my surroundings more; I started to appreciate the black sea, the black sand, the black shadows dancing all around me, for this is how the beach was supposed to be seen in the light of the night. Nature has its way of showing us different things in different ways at different times. How often have we asked for more “light” to see certain things better, in a “better light”, only to have the “light” blind us from seeing things the way they should be seen? Quick! Switch off your lights and be blinded no more.

And suddenly, I was lost.

Lost, not because I did not know where I was. Of course I knew where I was! I was standing on the sand, with the jetty in front of me, the sea to my left, the park on my right, and behind me was where I came from. I was lost because I did not know where to go. Should I continue in my “quest” to reach the jetty? It was getting late. Maybe I should turn back and walk back the way I came. Or should I turn towards the park and walk through it in the process of going back? By losing my direction, I was lost. People don’t get lost because they don’t know where they are; people get lost not knowing where to head to. When someone is in unfamiliar ground, not knowing where his location is, but if he is sure of where to head to next, he is not lost.

Turning around, I decided to just make my way back the way I came. Walking back on the same tracks I came by, I wondered how it would be like to be able to walk back in time. And I asked myself: Would I really want to go back in time even if I were able to? Would you?

W@lker

(First printed 10^th May 2003)

Back to Granville Island Brewing

Back to the day I went to Granville Island Brewing:



It was on 23rd Oct, Sun, that my floor had a group outing to a Granville Island Brewing tour. Not that great a turnout, but it was still fun nevertheless. For just $9.36 (including tax), we were given a tour of how beer was brewed in Granville Island Brewing, and we had a tasting session of 4 kinds of beer they offered.

The tour was actually quite short. It was just 45 minutes. It was still quite interesting. Looking at the different machines and processes. Now I know that the main difference between the pale lager beer and the dark stout beer is actually in the roasting of the barley malt.






The four types of beer we got to try were really nice. From then on, I decided if I were to buy any beer, beer from Granville Island Brewing would by my choice. ;) We had Robson Street Hefeweizen:




Cypress Honey Lager:




English Bay Pale Ale:



And lucky! Limited edition beer: Oktoberfest:







Oktoberfest was definitely my favourite. It had such a nice taste to it. It was of limited brew though. So we were lucky to be able to taste it. Of course, I bought a bottle of it back. Haha. Till now, it's still sitting on the shelves.

Granville Island

Back now to Granville Island. The 2nd half of my adventure on 27th Oct.

Granville Island is not exactly an island. It's just a small piece of land under the Granville Bridge. It's still connected to the main land, so I don't understand why it is called Granville Island. But it's a small little sort-of-town. There's nothing much to look at, but it's a change from the city environment around. There are probably just 3 main attractions there. The Kids Market, the Granville Island Brewing Company, and the Public Market.

The Kids Market is one big building with toys, toys, and more toys! OK. Not just toys, but basically stuff for kids, as the name already suggests. They even have this cute little Kids Entrance.



I actually visited the Granville Island Brewing Company on 23rd Oct, so maybe I should leave that for another post.

The Public Market, too, is nothing fascinating. It's just that, a market. I guess what makes it so special is just that it's the market of Granville Island, selling the local products, like locally grown organic vegetables and fruits, and locally caught seafood.





OK. One other interesting thing I DID see at Granville Island was this shop that sells glass art pieces. You could actually peep in and see the artist at work making the glass pieces!




I must have been in a rather crazy mood that day. After Granville Island, I cycled further up 4th Ave to the Salvation Army Thrift Store. Bought a nice raincoat, which as only $5.29! It looked very new. One of the reasons why I liked it is because it's the same style of rain coat that Nick Cheung (张家辉) wore in the show "Ups and Downs in the Sea of Love" 《十万吨情缘》 I really loved the show. ;)

I wasn't crazy enough to cycle all the way back to UBC though. If I had done that, I would have probably died. I did had to cycle up 4th Ave further before I reached a bus stop that bus 44 stops at to take bus 44 back as the other buses that go to UBC along that road don't have bus racks.

Stanley Park

OK. I think I'll just start with whatever I can remember now.

It was on 27th Oct, Thu, that I finally went to Stanley Park. Because bus 19 is not bike rack fixed, I had to take 99 and change to 98 to downtown, and cycle all the way from downtown to Stanley Park. The ride around Stanley Park along the seawall is about 8km. The scenery was really nice. It's something that you can't get in Singapore. It looks more like something out of the movies. First, there's the whole sailing club with all the sailing boats.



Furthermore, now being autumn, the leaves presented themselves in various beautiful colours.





I even got to see a plane that can land on water. Can't remember what it's called though.



I really regretted not bringing a tripod though. It was so beautiful that I really wanted to take pictures of myself in the scenery. It was so hard trying to find places to place my camera properly to take photos of myself. I must have looked idiotic at times trying to take pictures of myself.




After moving along the seawall for some time, I could see North Vancouver. Last time from Grouse Mountain, we could see Stanley Park. This time, it's the view from the other side.

At one point, I was quite fascinated by a light house. There were 2 light houses along the track. One of them was easily accessible, which was the 1st light house I encountered. It wasn't one of those big ones where people had to man them, but it was still really nice to see a light house upclose.





There were just so much to take photos of that I basically biked for a short while, took photos, biked, took photos, biked, took photos, took more photos... You get the idea.

There was this sculpture: Girl in a Wetsuit:



A children's playground with a sundial:



The Lion Gate Bridge connecting Main Vancouver and North Vancouver:



There was this beach where you could see so many ducks:



That was where I stayed the longest too... Appreciating the scenery, yet feeling so sad. It was such a romantic place to be, but there I was, without my dear. How I wished I could just take a nice stroll with my dear there, enjoying the view, like this couple:



I also spent quite a lot of time looking through the photos I took and deleting a lot of them because I took so many photos that my SD card had no more space! How I wished I had a larger SD card. In fact, the more photos I took, the more I missed my Konica Minolta. It would have offered me much more control, allowing me to take more beautiful pictures. Not forgetting its 10X optical zoom.... *Sob sob* The next camera I'll get is probably another Konica Minolta Z series model. I simply love it.

By this time, it was already mid afternoon, around 3pm or so. The sun reflecting off the sea surface created such a nice picture. I felt I was in another world.



I'm probably starting to sound like I just got released from some secluded village place, but such views and scenery were really something I had never experienced before. Singapore simply did not have such scenery.

In the end, I even cycled all the way from Stanley Park down to the English Bay, along the sea wall and all the way past the Granville Bridge, to Granville Island. But I guess I should leave that to another post. This post is getting long enough as it is now, though I have already left out so much...