October 18, 2016 | The Ossuary

So, no one informed me exactly how vertical a place this was.

I knew in an academic sense that there were mountains here. What I failed to realize was that the city is built into a mountain.

And that I’d be walking up it.

I take the bus from the bottom of the mountain. Which isn’t so bad, really. So long as I’m not running an errand on the Esplanade, it’s just a mostly level walk with a slight incline to the bus stop. But man, I want anything else than the bus stop, I”m getting a hill, either on the way to or back. I love exploring cities, but these hills… I ain’t in my twenties anymore. Guess I’ll lose some weight at least.

Today was a lot of information being dumped onto my plate in pure, Stanley Spadowski ‘drink from the firehose’ mode. But, it’s good to be working. I don’t get a lot of time to myself, mostly on account of jet lag. I’m usually asleep or very, very drowsy by now. It’s technically 11:24 right now by my internal clock. So I’m amazed I’ve made it this far. This may finally be the night I see 9:00 PM local. Provided the beer doesn’t put me under.

That’s about it for tonight. I’m going to kick back on this wonderful porch in the cool air, and try to get used to the idea of being here another 19 days.

So, I’ve been in Vancouver for almost forty-eight hours. My first day was exhausting. I woke up at 2 AM to catch a 5 AM flight, spent nine hours in transit, then proceeded to travel from the airport rail, to a seabus (easy, thanks to Suzanne’s comprehensive instructions) then to the absolute worst Google map walking path I’ve ever received. I managed to make my way into my place (which is really really nice), then down to a Supermarket (I didn’t know there were still IGSa) to buy about a hundred Canadian dollars worth of food. After that, sleep came quickly – about eleven hours of it.

I hit the bricks hard the next day – I met Suzanne, a nearby co-worker, by a local bank, and we walked to get coffee. Suzanne was very, very cool. Spent most of the bus ride and walk to the office talking. Once I got to the office, I spent the better part of the day getting settled into their systems and registering for the various tools being used. My boss, Andrea, seems very nice, but was very busy.

On the ride home, Suzanne played the role of gracious tour guide – I now know where a few neat places (bookstores, thrift stores, drug stores, and Compass kiosks) are, and I have good lay of the land in the immediate area.

I wanted to explore when I got home, but was exhausted. The walk is long to the office and goes uphill in many places. Additionally, where I am in Vancouver’s North Shore is built into a hill as well. Tell you what, I’mma lose some weight here.

In any event, it’s time to grab some lunch and get to the bus. More later, provided I’m not exhausted again.

Day: October 18, 2016

The San Francisco of Canada

Arrival