#62 Short indulgence

First of all, I have to say that I was a bit confused that some people had already wished me a good flight and everything, but I specially titled the blog “first step..” so that I thought it was clear that I don't come directly to Germany. 😅 And as if I could have gotten over saying goodbye to Trooper and Canada in one day. 😅😭 Never in my life. We don't have to talk about saying goodbye, but it wasn't easy and at some point you can't keep all your emotions inside.

And then here for your ears:

https://tinyurl.com/yqa69gwu (42 minutes)

But when we landed in Vancouver, I first went to Vedesh. Surprisingly, he still lived in the same apartment and I was allowed to sleep with him for two nights. Since Vedesh is a bartender, night is his day and so he slept until at least 4 p.m. So we couldn't really do anything together, so nothing exciting happened on Saturday and Sunday, apart from a visit to the sauna (jacuzzi was broken 😭) and a few walks on the beach.

On Monday morning I set off towards the “Bloedel Conservatory”. This tropical indoor garden is really... super warm. 🥵 So you would like to take off your clothes straight away, that was a stark contrast to the outside temperature. I love plants, they make everything more pleasant in terms of atmosphere. I remember when my roommate and I had our living room undesigned and filled with a few plants during the Corona period. It was a difference like night and day. It's just nice to have plants in your home. I also missed that with Jenny and David. They really don't have any flowers in their house and I think that's a shame. Maybe they'll put some in when everything's finished. Now back to the tropical garden. It is a feast for the eyes to look at the variety of colors in nature. There was still a bad aftertaste, because in addition to the plants there were also birds, especially parrots, and I thought so too. On the one hand, it is incredibly beautiful to see such a bird. I really wonder how these colors are created. Are they just feathers? So what are they made of that make them look so awesome? I don't check it. On the other hand, this area is simply incredibly small for such birds and animals should not be kept like that. That was the nice thing here in Canada, because here you have the wild animals “on your doorstep”. In my opinion, zoos are not really species-appropriate and keeping parrots like that there....well, of course, they don't know any different, but it's still a bit unfortunate.

Then we walked back again. On the way there I took a wrong bridge, which simply cost me an hour (!) detour. So this time we headed for the right bridge and walked back to Vedesh. It's really warm here in Vancouver. In Tatla Lake I already had -18 °C in the morning and here it will be around +9 °C tomorrow. That's why I always have the feeling that I'm overdressed and that at some point I no longer use the jacket. When we arrived at Vedesh, it was time to pack my things and drive to my new hostel. I also had another embarrassing story with the bus driver, but it didn't matter 😅 At some point, after driving two stops too far and having to walk to the hostel with my luggage, it turned out that I had the best bed. Because it's the last one in the 18-man room. Mega cool because it's in a kind of extra room without a door and that's really great. Actually, I should have changed rooms, but that was sorted out and so I can now spend my days here. 😁😎

Tuesday was probably the biggest indulgence after the tropical garden. We went on a whale watching tour. It was the last tour for the season, as the resident whales still gorge themselves here and then swim to Mexico and/or Hawaii to have their children there. It's amazing, I didn't expect whales to swim so close to the coast, because after about five minutes the first humpback whale came out of the water. Is not that crazy? A humpback whale? 😍🐋 Oh, I was happy to see these animals. Shortly afterwards a group of orcas came swimming along to our boat, which was pretty close. ❤️🐳🐋In addition to the “normal” orcas, we also saw a special subgroup of orcas. It felt like they were only as big as dolphins, but they looked like orcas. It was very difficult to take photos because the whales only appeared for a very short moment. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos of the gigantic dorsal fins of these animals, but at some point I decided that I could leave my cell phone in my pants and just enjoy it. But I would have liked to show you the one humpback whale at the end. He suddenly came out of nowhere, right next to our boat. If you had jumped from the boat, you would have easily landed on him. It's impressive how big these animals are and how they glide through the water in such a relaxed manner. ❤️😍I'm not sure if I've ever seen sea lions, but they're such fat animals, it's crazy. They can weigh up to a ton. I was able to watch this at the end.

However, there was also a dilemma here, which I was aware of beforehand. Such a whale watching tour can also be called a whale hunting tour, because unfortunately it is nothing else. There are a few larger companies that offer such tours and they all work together, which means that if a boat sees a whale, the captain informs the other companies via radio and then everyone races towards this whale. After he is briefly surrounded, the engine is thankfully turned off so that it becomes quiet for a moment and the whale probably doesn't freak out completely. Unfortunately, that is the “dark side” of such things.

After the tour we went briefly to the hostel and off to Vedesh. Tuesday was Halloween and that is an unusually big event in North America. 😁🎃So I thought I could go to a club. But first I wanted to stop by Vedesh and then we watched a film before I set off around one o'clock. Vedesh had already told me that the police really closed the “party street” completely to traffic. This was then quickly “cleaned” by the police around half past one so that traffic could drive along there again. Luckily Vedesh and Desmond work at this club so I got in for free. 😎😅 But what can I say. The first thing I immediately felt: you're stronger in a group and so I was pushed from left to right. Thankfully, one of them was leaning against the front of the area and was already doing well, so he was always a little bit of support when I was pushed too hard again. 😅 Unfortunately my support left me at some point and was replaced by a couple who felt like they wanted to do rambazamba on the dance floor, which was very tiring. 😁 And so the different groups of people who pushed their way towards me or tried to take over my hard-earned dance floor changed. At some point it was just before three and I left because the club closed at three and I wanted to avoid the big rush. I treated myself to a small beer here for a modest 10 CAD, but I didn't enjoy it. That was the Corona beer and I didn't like it at all and then it was the only thing they had... and it's supposed to be the best club in town. I do not know. Unfortunately there were no more night buses running at this time of day and so I had to walk the approximately 1 ½ hour journey. Of course, here too I felt way too warm and initially ran without a jacket.

Yes, what can I say, that's it for now, because thanks to my always too light clothing, I've now caught a cold. I noticed it right on Wednesday. Luckily I don't have a bad cough now. It's more of a slightly thicker neck and flaccidity. I was never really sick in Canada and on the last leg I caught a cold. I also have zero appetite, which unfortunately will definitely result in a frequent comment in Germany: But you've become thin. On Wednesday, when I wanted to get some fresh air, I had to buy a belt at a second-hand store. 😅 Otherwise I lie in bed most of the time and therefore couldn't treat myself as much anymore.

Until this Saturday. I had already bought a ticket for the Space Center a few days ago, so it took me a little longer to get out of bed today. Once we arrived at the Space Center, the “show” began almost immediately. You could link your ticket to a type of film that looks at different topics. My film was called: From the Earth to the Universe. Of course, it is still tiring for me to understand people who speak English fluently and it is understandable that the terms used when it comes to the universe are not used in my everyday life. So it was a bit tiring to watch the short film all the way through. There were also a few parents there with their small children for whom it was absolutely nothing. So that was really a bit more subject-specific and not primarily child-friendly. Of course, the small children couldn't sit silently either, so another "factor" was added that made it a little more "exhausting". After the film we went through the associated museum. Of course it was interesting for me as a space fan, but due to the amount of (subject-specific) English and my slight cold, I was very exhausted, so I quickly went out, especially towards the end. And so here I am again, continuing to cure myself.

Even though I actually wanted to treat myself to more, I am really grateful for the experiences I was able to have here in the first few days. I think the whales are just something that you always come back to because these animals are just so huge and impressive. I just hope that maybe I'll get fit again in the next few days so that my indulgence can continue. 😅

Until then

Samuel