Hot weather, first concert, and fire works - 27/07/09-2/08/09

So the weeks are starting to go really fast again now that I'm working and we have stopped doing so many things. Its a bit strange really, normally the holidays go quicker than working days but that doesn't seem to be the way at the moment.

The weather this week continued similar to the last week, it has been so hot, temperatures this week hit the highest recorded temperatures in Vancouver. The airport temp said 34.4 degrees but the temp monitor in the city area hit 40 degrees. Some areas around Vancouver got even higher, I'm sure I had no sleep or very little for about a week.

Anyway Monday was one of these hot days and we decided to head to Stanley Park and sit under a tree in the shade after I had done a little study at work for our teaching sessions. Its nice just sitting watching into the port area of Burrard inlet, watching the boats and planes coming in and out, as well as the people walking around. We lazed around listening to music and people watching. After this we headed back home for a relaxing evening.

Tuesday was another work/study day for me. While at work I had a text from Cam saying that he had something planned for us at 7pm so not to organise anything to do. After getting home from work I was trying to guess what on earth it could be that we were going to do. Since we don't really have any friends in Vancouver as yet that we hang out with, my closest guesses were the movies, dessert as we had already had dinner, or the police and fire games which are happening at the moment. It was much better that all of these put together.

They had made tickets cheaper for a Blink 182 concert which Cam bought so this was where we were going. A very nice surprise as we have had so many tempting concerts to go to but have had to say no. The supporting band happened to be All American Rejects, one of my favourites, this band came to New Zealand to play before Simple plan however we found out about 2-3 hours before the concert that they had cancelled. This band was the actually reason I wanted to go. So finally I got to see them. There were 2 other Canadian bands who performed first then, All American Rejects and then Blink 182. Its been about 7 or 8 years since I had seen Blink 182 at the big day out and they were just as good as when I saw them then. Dammit (the song) was awesome live and was their last song, I had actually forgotten this was there song. All American Rejects were also awesome. Overall a great evening and a great first concert in Vancouver.

This was awesome, look closely at the photo on the right and you will see the drummer playing the drums while the platform he is sitting on is up in the air, he moved all around the stage and the flatform also spun round. Looked really effective.

The next day I had work in the morning, after I finished I wasn't up for anything, I was stuffed. Thursday was another work day and we didn't get up to anything.

Friday was my first official pay day in about 2 months and we went shopping, it was great. I have wanted to go shopping in such a long time. Unfortunately we still had to be careful with how much we spent but both of us ended up going home with a pair of shoes. Mine were for work so not that great but still shopping and when you work 12 hours on your feet, comfort is important (yes Pam it is). Can't wait for the next time!!

Annually Vancouver has a HSBC celebration of light. This is where 4 countries compete with a fireworks display over 4 nights over 2 weeks, eg wed, sat, wed, sat. They have a barge in the middle of English bay, which is off the beach near downtown. Thousands of people camp out having picnics, swimming and playing in the park all around the bay, waiting for the fireworks which start at 10pm. Each display goes for about 30 minutes and are amazing. Normally the countries do there thing on the first few nights and then on the last night they all let of a display. However this time they didn't have a finale, the different counties did their display on different nights. The 4 countries involved were Canada, South Africa, England and China. We happened to go on the last night only, which was China and they won this year. Turns out we picked the right night.

We decided to make a night out of it, pack up a picnic and head to the waterfront around 6pm. We had our cheese and crackers, ham, eggs, potato salad, tomato and caramel cake for dessert while watching the sunset behind the mountains in the distance. It was extremely picturesque, about the 3rd or 4th time we have seen the sunset here. I think its about time for a sunrise. The fireworks were very good, I think these were a little more subtle than some of the other nights but still good especially for the last couple of minutes. We decided to walk home after this as the buses were packed and there was heaps of traffic, turns out we made the right decision, we walked for about 15 mins and never had a bus go past.

Sunday was another warm day, today we headed out to watch the Gay Pride Parade in the gay and lesbian area of town. Turns out Vancouver is very open when it comes to this population. To be honest I was expecting a little more glitz and glam with the parade. They had some floats, people on bikes (some naked), people marching with signs etc, but it wasn't as out there as I was expecting. I think some things freaked me out more than it did for Cam which was surprising hehe. We didn't stay for long and headed home.