Work work work

Working life is tough. I'm currently sat around on my first day off in two weeks, and I have to say I feel so relieved. I wouldn't really mind if I actually enjoyed my job, but unfortunately the place I work, which previously had been a sanctuary of Facebook, Flickr, Blogging, Teamtalk.com and generally arsing about has turned into a hardcore Excel Spreadsheet-fest. It's tough.

Two weeks ago my alarm went off at 6:30am as normal. I quietly moaned to myself for a couple of minutes, thrashed around for a couple more, then staggered out of bed, showered, made myself some Pesto and cheese sandwiches and cycled to work. Since then it's been non-stop, but cycling, I've discovered, is so much better than taking the bus for a number of reasons.


Firstly, you get a great amount of Exercise.

Second: it's actually quicker to cycle to work, than it is to use public transport. My bike ride to work consists of one long hill down Granville Street, a slow cycle up and across Granville Bridge, then a quick blast around the grid layout of Yaletown - the 'yuppie' district of Downtown Vancouver. Normally somewhere along this route, usually down Granville Hill, I will overtake the number 10 bus - my old mode of transport, and I have to say, in all the time I have worked in this office, once I have got past the bus it has never got by me once again.

Thirdly, it's cheap. Unfortunately my cycling hasn't been quite as cheap as it could have been, as I have to admit that I am on my second bike in a month. Unfortunately my previous bicycle, that I was so pleased with, after spending many hours with Dylan (who had his bike nicked the other day) toiling over to get into a roadworthy state, was stolen from outside my work in broad daylight. I spent about two hours feeling incredibly pissed off about the whole situation, but then came to the conclusion that bikes are cheap, and at least the thief had stolen a good, roadworthy bike, that would not need any work for quite a while.


Undeterred, I logged on to the haven of bargains that is Craigslist.ca, and within 24 hours of having Bike #1 stolen, I had purchased the vastly superior Bike #2. This one comes with (just about working) front suspension, and grip shift gears. Granted, the brakes aren't great, and I've managed to lose one set of gears (the front set, so it's not all bad) but I will sort these issues out eventually, and I will end up with a better bike.

Finally, biking around Downtown is great fun. I love weaving my way down the traffic, fitting into gaps and generally getting places 10 times faster than walking, and at least three times faster than those trying to navigate Downtown in gas-guzzling cars. I love it, and now I realise why Tom, my brother, enjoys cycling so much.

Anyway, with regards to work, I haven't actually had a day off since that Monday a couple of weeks back, and since then the workload has been mounting up thick and fast. Gone are the days of internet surfing, and now all I seem to do is sit around 'Mining Data' to gather random reference numbers, and creating "Super Administrators" for various companies all around the globe. It's a huge software company I work for, and their customers range from the Bank of America, to the United Nations, to the US Air Force. It's soul-destroyingly dull, but it pays fairly well, and it allows me to buy Pesto, arrogant French Brie, and London Fog drinks - so I'm happy.


Speaking of London Fog drinks - I have no idea where they've been all my life, or why I've never heard of them but MY GOD, they are incredible. It all started one fateful day when I was hanging around at Mink -my usual post-work-can't-be-arsed-to-cycle-home place, where my Aussie friend Lynda works. Mink is an extremely classy Chocolate Cafe, residing at the bottom of Hornby Street, in Downtown Vancouver, near the waterfront. It's a lovely location to hang out for a while, and I've got to know the staff pretty well. I've often been offered 'discounted' drinks in my time there, and one such time one of the staff, Jason, offered me a beverage I'd never heard of before. The London Fog, or simply 'Fog' as it's now known by us, is made up of steamed milk, organic Earl Grey tea (try $15 a box, but the teabags are made of silk, literally), a dash of Vanilla Syrup, and the option of Cinnamon on top. I tasted one of these for the first time a couple of weeks ago and ever since I've been hooked. It's got to the point where I make my own, rather less incredible, but still impressive, versions at work, and that has helped me get through the monotony of life at Business Objects.


Don't get me wrong, it's a laugh working here. The other temps I work with are all friendly and we get on well, but the work is mind-numbing, and nothing ever comes along that is in the slightest bit interesting. So, with this in mind, the prospect of overtime would probably be something I wouldn't even consider, right? Wrong, on Thursday all the temps were called into a meeting. Our boss Marnie asked how how we would like triple pay ($40.50/hour before tax) on Monday - a national holiday. We all stated, with generous dollops of understatement, that we'd probably be interested in that. The deal was to do at least four hours on both Saturday and Sunday, at double pay, and we could have our 40 bucks an hour on Monday. Needless to say we all took the offer up, and so on Monday, after personally working 12 hours over the weekend, everyone worked an epic Excel Spreadsheet shift of 12 gut-wrenching hours. It had to rank as one of the worst days of my life, sitting alongside writing-off my mothers beloved Fiat Punto, and failing my driving test, but the paycheque, which will arrive next week, should be spectacular.


Aside from that I've managed to do a lot of cheap activities. The other week Dylan, Andrew, Sabrina and myself climbed Grouse Mountain. Grouse is located behind North Vancouver, and we had planned to do it one weekend. The climb, known as the Grouse Grind, was tough, and after about 45 minutes we thought we were getting on pretty well. That was until we realised we weren't even half-way up. The trail is made up of an endless chain of steps made out of rock, branches and soil, which you conquer, one after another, in an fashion which seems like it will never end. Fortunately we all managed it, and had the splendor of an awe-inspiring view of Vancouver, the Burrard Inlet, and the coast of Vancouver Island in the distance. It took us an hour and-a-half, but it was totally worth it, especially for the Gondola ride back down.


Also in Vancouver there has recently been a fireworks competition. The basic idea is a few countries get together and try and out-do each other with as many different explosives as possible on Wednesday and Saturday nights. The views available from all over Downtown are spectacular, and I particularly enjoyed being able to get a great view of the city by moonlight, thus taking far far too many long-exposure shots with my Nikon.


All-in-all it's been a tough few weeks, but the pay will be worth it. I finish at my work in a week and-a-half, to take some well-earned time off. My trip to Canada is supposed to be a Working Holiday, and so I need to ensure I keep that in mind, rather than spending every waking moment in the workplace. I might not necessarily work 100% of the time when I'm there, but being here, rather than being outside enjoying the city and the surrounding area is important.

Making friends and Eco-travel

When I first decided to move to Vancouver many months ago now I was quite understandably excited. A new city, in a new country, on a new continent. A whole clean slate and a whole new adventure.


When I told my friends, work-mates, and any other random people I spoke to that I was going I usually got one of two responses. The first generally went along the lines of "Sounds good, you'll have a great time there." Perfectly normal response really.

The second, however, I found quite amusing.

The conversation would usually go:
Person (with puzzled expression): Have you been to Canada before?
Ben: No never.
Person: So you have family there?
Ben: Nope.
Person: Friends?
Ben: None.
Person: Right. (looking even more puzzled) You're mental.

Most of the time the conversation would end there, or the subject would be changed, but for some reason the people I would have this conversation with were unable to fathom why I'd want to leave dear old England for a new country I'd never even been before and had no links with. For me, I didn't really see the difference between going to Vancouver, or moving away from home to University. It's the same principle - a new setting, a whole group of new people to meet, and a time of complete unknown, with the opportunity to do so much, or so little.


I guess most people would be pretty scared of moving so far away. When at University in England you are never really too far away from home. England is a tiny country, and I've been told that you can fit our Kingdom inside British Columbia four times.

Additionally, when going to University you usually start off in some form of Halls of Residence. Easy enough to meet people then - everyone else is in the same boat, and everyone else is crapping themselves over the fact that they may not meet people, may be lonely, and have a wasted experience. I found the Jericho Beach Hostel to be an experience similar to that. Most people were alone, or in small groups, and everybody was up for talking and making new friends. It was easy, really.


My friendship group here in Vancouver is made up of an interesting bunch of people. Firstly there is Dylan - my weirdly flexible, massive-handed, Sri Lankan/English friend from Wisbech in Cambridgeshire. Next up: Lynda and Andrew - a couple of friendly Aussies who've been travelling the world for a fair amount of time themselves, but have now settled in Vancouver for six months at least. There's Robert, my Dutch mate who has been in Vancouver for almost a month - but has just today left for Tokyo, to continue his round the world expeditions. We've got some Irish friends too - Sabrina, Seun - who is Irish but was born in Nigeria, and their other Irish housemate Emma. There's my flight buddy, Helen, who has recently got her own place to live sorted, and has managed to bag a pretty good job at Westjet in Canada Place. As well as these there are others who have come and gone from the Hostel, a group of locals who Robert and I have played soccer (sorry, I mean football) with every weekend, and my work mates - who do the same supposedly-working-but-actually-sitting-on-facebook job as myself.


I did find the first week in Canada pretty difficult. Looking back on things, staying at UBC was a mistake. The place was nice but there was no opportunity to meet any people - and it cost far too much. Moving to the Hostel was a great move, as all my new friends have been from there, and everyone has been brilliant. We've spent time wandering around Downtown, sitting in Stanley Park or on Jericho Beach, or met up at Lynda's workplace - Mink Chocolate Cafe near Canada Place - to eat and drink unhealthily.

The other day Dylan got himself a mountain bike. He discovered "Our Community Bikes" on Main St in Vancouver - a shop whose organisers recycle bikes that have been damaged, disregarded or are in various states of disrepair. Dylan paid $80 for a bike that looked brand new, aside from it lacking a saddle, and so the other day he came with me to get one of my own. Two hours of toil later and I had a "Nishiki" mountain bike of my own. It cost slightly more, as we had to change wheel-bearings, gear shifters, grease the whole thing up, and stop the saddle from trying to fling me off every time I changed speed, but I'm happy. I'm sure Tom, my brother, would be proud that I've embraced an eco-friendly form of travel. Whilst I nail it around Downtown Vancouver, dodging buses, pedestrians, cars, and going the wrong way down one-way streets, he is planning the next stint of his Ride Earth trip - a cycle ride around the globe.

Now that cheap transport has been sorted out I never need to use the bus again. Granted, I will probably get public transport if I venture out of the city any time soon, but whilst I stay I will be seen on my bike. It's great exercise too.


Next on the agenda is to buy a laptop, pay rent, and find more places to visit. It's going to be fun.

Getting Settled

It's been a couple of weeks since I last posted anything about my exploits on the other side of the pond, but not being in any particular rush to do anything strenuous today I decided to write about what I've been to up to in the last two weeks.


In the previous edition of this blog I was unemployed, homeless but generally having a good time. Fortunately, the latter part of this hasn't changed, but the other two have.

Since moving from UBC to the Hostel at Jericho Beach my experiences in Canada have changed a lot. UBC was a nice place to stay, but I really had to get out of there. On a positive note I had my own room, washroom shared with only a couple of people, and it was directly next to the bus. It was also an astronomical $354 dollars for a weeks stay, and was dull. Very dull. I barely met anyone whilst staying there, so when my mate Dylan mentioned that the Hostel was located right on the beach, had good links into Downtown, and was only $20/night I was sold. After setting fire to my debit card to pay for my stay at UBC, packing, and getting the hell out of there, Dylan helped me move my stuff to Jericho Beach, and that's where I stayed for the past couple of weeks.


Since then the time has flown by. I've met people from all over the world. Places like Ireland, Australia, Switzerland, Canada, Italy, The Netherlands, Germany, Mexico, Bolivia, China, Taiwan. Everyone is friendly and is interested in what you are doing in Canada, where you've been before, what you want to do next. Like myself, many people came alone, some are passing through on heroic voyages around the continent by car/van/bicycle, many are here for a year or two to work, and many are just on an extended break over the summer from University or College.

The Hostel, which was formally an Army Barracks, is cheap and cheerful, but it shows. The washrooms leave a lot to be desired, and you only get a small locker to store your stuff in, but it's a great laugh. You meet new people every day, and during the Euro 2008 tournament the Germans who ran the cafeteria set up the television outside with a gazebo, sofa, and fridge stocked with alcohol. The staff are friendly and chatty, there's a huge kitchen for food preparation, and the aformentioned Jericho Beach is only a couple of minutes walk away. Canada Day happened on Tuesday, and the Hostel management organised a big bbq/chill out/beach party-type thing for the day, and we watched the Fireworks over Downtown Vancouver in the evening from the beach.


Shortly after moving to the Hostel my search for employment finally bore fruit. After a gruelling two hour inteview/test session with Kelly Services, an employment agency, I was finally offered a job. As of Monday I have been working on 'Data Entry' for a software company in Downtown Vancouver. Thus far I have sat on a very comfortable chair, moved various reference numbers around various different screens, and consumed various packets of Cuppa Soup Noodles whilst sitting on various pages on the internet. I've also marvelled over, on many occasions, the top floor of the building. In England, an office kitchen - in my experience at least - includes a couple of cupboards, a kettle, and perhaps some slightly mouldy cheese. Try here: A ping pong table, every type of free coffee, tea, hot chocolate you'd ever want, a football table, a big-screen TV with three games consoles, subsidised snack machines (25p for a Twix anyone?), sofas, and an outdoor roof patio with a barbeque. I'm sure I could've done worse.

I start work at 8am - something that I've been finding fairly difficult, after five weeks of getting up whenever I feel I can be arsed, but the pay isn't bad, and the office is relatively relaxed. There has been a lot of training happening this week, so it's been a case of information overload at times, but there is a load of new temps aside from myself, so everyone helps each other out. All in all it will at least allow me to pay the rent at my new place!


Yes, it's true - I have a house. Well, a room, actually, in a shared house. It's not too expensive, and I'm living with a couple of guys from Quebec, a chap from Toronto I've never met as he's always working, and a Tunisian guy called Slim (who wasn't very), who disappeared the other day. The building is huge and upstairs there's a house where the couple who own the place live. My landlord, Frank, is from Hungary and his wife Fadia is Lebanese. They're also incredibly friendly and gave me a lift to do a food shop the day I moved in. Overall I'm pretty pleased, as my room is large, is fully furnished, has a double bed and plenty of storage space, and I can get a bus to Downtown in around 15 minutes.


At the moment I'm living on a bit of a limited budget, but soon enough I'll get paid and be able to visit places on weekends, and save up for when people come over to visit. It's nice to be unpacked now, having been living out of a bag for the best part of a month, and I'm feeling a lot more settled. I've made lots and lots of friends at the Hostel, and a fair few of them are here for a year. After a tough start things are looking up.

One Week In: Unemployed, Homeless, but still good

When I first touched down in Vancouver, in what seems like a lot more than a week ago now, I was a little apprehensive. This was probably understandable: I was moving to a country on the other side of the world, not having any family out there, and knowing no-one. All I had was a couple of bags of clothes, a weeks accommodation at the University of British Columbia Halls of Residence (UBC) and some money in my bank account.


Well, a week has passed since I touched in to be greeted by the distinctly British weather of the city that day, and fortunately I am still around.

Living at UBC for a week turned out to be pretty comfortable, if a little out of the way. Downtown Vancouver, where I have been doing all of my job and house hunting research, is absolutely miles away. Fortunately there is a bus terminal right outside my halls, so getting into town is a quick 25 minute ride down 4th Avenue, and left across Burrard Bridge into the sea of mirror-windowed skyscrapers that makes up Downtown Vancouver.


What a place to spend your time though. Everywhere you look, there is 50-100 story, building. It's a far cry from what I saw in Accra, Ghana back in February, but both cities have their own separate personalities and attractions. Accra was simply chaotic. The roads were a free-for-all. If there was a space to be filled on the road, someone would fill it. There were open sewers which stank, people selling all manner of goods in the middle of traffic jams, the place just alive with activity.

Vancouver, on the other hand, is totally the opposite. The drivers all stick religiously to the highway code. Never have I seen drivers yield so much to pedestrians. If you even think about crossing the street, vehicles will instantly stop and let you go, whether you are at a proper crosswalk or not. Everyone drives around at a leisurely pace, rather than the insanity of African driving (not that I didn't find car rides in Ghana entertaining), the people are obviously far more affluent, and it is a great cosmopolitan atmosphere. They say that Vancouver has the second biggest Chinatown in North America, after San Francisco, and it certainly seems that way. Asian people probably match white people in numbers.


The multicultural atmosphere here stems to the food also. There is such a variety of food you can eat. Chinese, Thai, Indian, Malaysian, Greek. Whatever you want, it's here. There are endless food courts underneith the various shopping centres, meaning that if you want Mexican and your friend wants some Sushi then it's no problem, and you can still sit together. Additionally, the extremely favourable exchange rates means that to English people the food, and everything else, is ridiculously cheap also. Try the equivalent of about three quid for a main course and a drink in most places. Shop around and you get things even cheaper.

As well as Downtown, there are so many other areas in Vancouver. You are never bored. Stanley Park, for instance, is only five minutes away from Downtown, but it is quiet, serene and picturesque. I wandered around there on my own the other day, watched the cruise ships pass under the Lions Gate Bridge to leave the city for the Pacific, relaxed, and spent about half an hour chatting to Olga and Graham, a retired Australian couple who started travelling in 1963, and basically never stopped. They now live in Texas, and before I asked where they were from I had no idea, as their accents were a mix of Canadian, Deep Southern Drawl, Australian and South African. Quite a mix!


I've met many other people doing similar things to me. To name a few: At my orientation I met Jonny, Ronny and Badge (seriously) - a group of Irish lads here for the summer, Dylan - an English guy with Sri Lankan roots, Helen - my flight buddy, and David, who quit his job as an Electrician nine years ago to go travelling, and has never gone back. He pays for it by renting his house out. A genius plan.


Job hunting is progressing slowly, too. On Wednesday 18th I had an interview at an agency on Burrard St in the centre of Vancouver. With any luck I will get some Administrative/Office work next week. I'm sure the experience I gained during my time at Kettering Care Management will help no end, although I'm not sure whether or not the places will be as fun!


I'm still currently looking for a home, and at the moment am still living out of a bag, and yesterday I moved to Jericho Beach Youth Hostel. It's a lot busier than UBC, and I've spoken to a lot of interesting people in the short time I've been there. This morning I got chatting to Ryan, a Californian guy who has been motorcyling around Vancouver Island, and watched Germany beat Portugal in Euro 2008 with a group of Germans, sat outside in the rain, with a monsterous television under a canopy. There are people from all over the place staying there, and it's cheap, at $20/night. A bit more affordable than UBC.

So that's about it for now. I'm alive, just about got enough money to live on (and when my tax rebate comes through I'll be a lot happier), and with any luck I'll have a job sorted soon. After that, I just need a place to live. Hopefully that will all fall into place too.

Early mornings, lost baggage and foot-long Burritos

Well, I'm here. It's been a long time since I decided to up sticks and bugger off to the other side of the world, but after a nine hour plane ride I have arrived in Vancouver.


It wasn't all plane sailing though. A couple of weeks ago I found out that my flight would be departing from the dreaded Terminal Five at Heathrow. Joy, I thought, my baggage will end up in Beijing. I set about calling my insurance company to arrange some extra baggage cover. Unfortunately, after getting the reply, in no uncertain terms, that Flexi Cover do not cover T5, I had to think of another solution. Fortunately my Mum happened across 'Trace Me' baggage tags, Which - surprisingly enough - trace your bags wherever they are in the world. With one of those purchased I still hoped my bags wouldn't be making a detour to the 2008 Olympics, but at least I had some form of security incase the unthinkable happened.

Yesterday morning was an early one. My folks drove me down to Heathrow, and I'd arranged to meet up with Helen - my flight buddy, and another person who had also decided to randomly move to a country in which she had no contacts or particular reason to go. After checking in together, and the inevitable tearful goodbyes from our respective mothers, we set off to Canada.

The flight was pretty uneventful. Having been used to cattle-class budgetary in the past, I was expecting to my treated to an array of food that resembled vomit, but infact the non-stop conveyer belt of nurishment that came our way was a joy. I watched the whole of Jumper (pretty entertaining film), and watched Larry David try to track down the mysterious masterbater in his house in Curb Your Enthusiasm. Nine-and-a-half hours later we landed in what was a very overcast, and quite chilly, Vancouver airport.


After going through immigration and getting my working visa validated without too much bother we went to baggage reclaim. That was where the problem started. My bags arrived straight away. Unfortunately for my flight buddy Helen, hers didn't. After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, in which Helen remained remarkably calm - whilst I would probably have nutted someone and been thrown out of the country - we came to the conclusion that Helen's bags were still somewhere in England and would arrive tomorrow. Of course, a years supply of belongings isn't really what you want to lose, so BA gave her $60 of compensation. Great.

Next was a taxi ride to the University of British Columbia Halls of Residence, where we had both booked a weeks accommodation. The place is pretty nice, although the view out of my window isn't exactly what I was hoping for, but it'll do. We both went to grab some food - I had the worlds largest chicken Burritto, whilst Helen had a Tamale - which as far as I knew was a small town in Northern Ghana. After getting back to my room I tried to stay awake as long as possible, to avoid jetlag, but failed miserably, falling asleep at about 7pm Canadian time, and waking up at 1am with my book still in my hand. Arse.

Today has been interesting so far. Breakfast consisted of cereal eaten out yesterdays smoothie cup, and after meeting Helen we got the bus into Downtown/Central Vancouver.


Tomorrow is the Orientation meeting with the company who sorted my visa, so after that I'll be on my own. The adventure starts here.