Kitsilano

Is there a neighbourhood in your city that you would love to live in? Well, in Vancouver, my favourite neighbourhood is Kitsilano.

Neighboured on the north by English Bay and False Creek, this neighbourhood of Vancouver is beautiful. It has well kept houses that are full of character and many restaurants, cafes and pubs. It is very well connected by public transit and has beautiful views of the north shore mountains. The beaches are beautiful, the people are fun and young.

The general atmosphere is that of trendy hippies. The grocery stores carry mostly organic produce. There are an abnormal number of Yoga practitioners and people use cycles a lot! It is a very left wing, liberal, sort of area.

Kitsilano has this air of idealism that I like. Yes, it is pretentious, but if you can look over its 'I am healthier and more concerned about the environment than you are' attitude, then it is really a beautiful part of the city. It has a lot of character; something that most of Vancouver seems to lack. And it has a lot of parks.

There is always something to do in Kits. I used to live near Kitsilano, and some years ago that was one of the only areas in Vancouver that I knew well. But now I live about half an hour away from it, and everytime I visit it I feel a yearning to move back.
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C.

Dosas and Cherry Blossoms

Today I ate South Indian food for dinner with some friends, at the newly opened Saravanaa Bhavan in Vancouver. It was quite excellent! I love Dosas and other south indian food. Idlees, Vadas, Uttapams ... Ill have it all! Even the filter coffee is really good here...and they serve it in the 'cup and bowl' fashion, where you need to pour the coffee between the cup and the bowl a couple of times for it to cool down.

After dinner, we walked by False Creek, partly to digest the food, but also because the weather was quite nice. Vancouver at dusk, with the cherry blossom trees this time of year...just beautiful.

Sun Run 2008

The past Sunday was the Vancouver Sun Run. This is a yearly event in Vancouver, where thousands of Vancouverites compete in a 10 kilometre run through scenic parts of downtown and the westend of the city. This year, a record 59,000+ participants took part. I was one of them!

But I didn't run. I walked. Yes, for me this was a chance to enjoy the sun after a hectic term at school (my last exam was two days prior to the event). It was a nice warm sunny day.

We had to start the "run" in stages. The serious and well trained competitors start first, and each batch thereafter progressively lacks the competitive spirit. I, for one, was in the LAST stage, along with the pram pushers! Yes, there are parents with children who too would like to partake in the event, and so they have their own group...where they can run (or run and push) their child in their pram.

I had gone to the event with some friends, but they got placed in the 3rd group, and me in the 5th. They started earlier than I and it was impossible to catch up to them, even though they too were only walking. They were about half an hour ahead of me. But I enjoyed the walk. I took some photos and really enjoyed being in Vancouver.

Its official: I am a comsumer!

A few weeks ago I felt like I was officially initiated into the consumer culture here in Canada...I experienced my 1st mass recall of a product by the manufacturers!

Yes, the toaster I bought a few months ago has been recalled by the manufacturers. Apparently it doesn't always switch off when the toast pops out...meaning that the coils are still on and are thus a fire hazard.

They mailed me a new toaster :)

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C.