ANZAC Day in Vancouver

Lisa, Ben and I went to the official ANZAC Day Memorial in downtown Vancouver at 9am on Saturday. This was our first time at an overseas ANZAC Day ceremony, and it was really something to be there with a few hundred Aussies and Kiwis so far from home, remembering the Anzacs and seeing the passers by with their heads on backwards trying to figure out what was going on. Not too many dry eyes I'd say!

For those of you who don't know, ANZAC Day is a very important national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, commemorated on 25 April each year. It started as a day to honour the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (the "Anzacs") who fought at Gallipoli in World War I. It now more broadly commemorates all who have served in the two countries' past and present military operations. ANZAC Day is a national holiday in Australia and New Zealand, and many people attend dawn services, parades, and other commemorative events each year, held everywhere from the biggest cities to the very smallest communities.

The Vancouver ceremony contained the usual elements - speeches, prayers, reading of Homecoming and The Ode, playing of The Last Post and Reveille by a bugler, two minutes silence, and the laying of wreaths. Speakers included the NZ Consul General, the Australian Honorary Consul, and an ADF Wing Commander based in Seattle. There was also a performance by a local Maori singing group, and they were fantastic! The ceremony drew to a close with everyone singing the Australian, New Zealand, and Canadian national anthems, led by local Aussie jazz musicians Goby Catt and the Catt Pack. It was wonderful!

Here are some photos...


Afterwards, everyone was invited back to a nearby Aussie restaurant, Moose's Down Under, but by the time we found somewhere to park and walked there, the place was overflowing so we didn't stay! But we have resolved to go back, because it looks like loads of cliched Australiana fun!!

Here are some photos from the rest of our day downtown. Re the first photo: the ceremony happened to be across the street from the Marijuana Party shop (yes, that's an actual political party here!), which was mentioned in one of the links in my "crazy Canadians" post...


And this is the awesome Vancouver Public Library...


And that's all for now! Goodnight!

Ben comes a cropper

On Friday night, Ben went off to play ice hockey in Langley with some of the guys. It was a late start, 10:50pm, and it was his first time ever. Here are some photos Darwin took of Ben getting suited up in his armour...


Well, due to his limited experience in ice skating, let alone trying to do anything else at the same time, after 5 minutes on the ice he came into sudden face-to-face contact with it.

Around 1am, I was vacuuming the kitchen (!!) and this is the sight I was greeted with as he walked in the door:

Thankfully, no missing teeth or otherwise serious injuries. Just a loose flap of lip, a bleeding nostril, and a split across his nose. Ouch!!

These crazy Canadians

I thought I'd put together a few observations about the weird and wonderful residents of this country! Well, mostly "weird" in these examples, but there are many wonderful things we can tell you about some other time! :)

National Pot Smoking Day

Okay, this is not unique to Canada, but it's the first time we've heard of it! Apparently it stems from a story about a group of Californian teens who would meet after school at 4:20pm to smoke marijiuana. Over here, dates are written as mm/dd, so 4/20 means April 20th, and, hence, this date is observed by the pot-smoking subculture around the world. Well, Vancouver has more than its share of this subculture, as well as an "international reputation for tolerance towards the recreational use of marijuana". So last Monday, April 20th, over 5000 people gathered outside the Vancouver Art Gallery to smoke pot. I heard about it on the radio traffic updates due to the traffic congestion downtown! Meanwhile, the police watched from the sidelines to monitor "crowd control and public safety". And by the way - yes, it IS still illegal here.

Hockey Hooligans

Canadians LOVE their ice hockey. The favourite Vancouver NHL team is the Canucks. When we first arrived, they were doing quite badly so we didn't hear too much about them. Now, however, they are doing extremely well. You can't drive for more than 30 seconds without seeing a car that is flying blue and white Canucks flags from its roof. Last Friday, the Canucks won a game 3-0. We heard in the news that when the game ended, about 2000 fans simultaneously poured out of the bars and restaurants near one city intersection, and complete havoc ensued. We're talking jumping on cars, people being arrested, and a "mountie" (police officer) ending up with a broken leg. We also heard that the decibel level at the game hit 103. To put this in context, 85 decibels is the danger threshold, and 100 is a chainsaw. We want to see an ice hockey game but you can be sure it won't be the Canucks!!

Weather Whingers

(I feel safe saying this because Canadians don't know what "whingeing" is!!) Vancouver has a reputation for being wet and rainy a lot of the time. However, it is also known for having the warmest, mildest, most temperate weather in all of Canada. And of course it snows here; it's Canada! But it snows less frequently and in lesser quantities than in the rest of the country. However, without fail, the second those beautiful snowflakes begin to drift gently to the ground, native Vancouverites all with one accord begin to whinge about it. We find this hilarious because we start screeching with excitement and grabbing the camera whenever it snows! We've been asked more than once why we would want to leave the beautiful sunshine in Australia to come here. "You have snow!" we say. Don't think they get it...

Neighbourly Love

Here's a piece of advice: if you meet someone with an north American accent, err on the side of guessing their nationality as Canadian first. Because if they are, they don't want you thinking they are from the USA for a second! It's been pointed out to me that Canadian travellers generally ensure their bags are prominently displaying their red and white maple leaf flag to short-circuit this very assumption. And, having encountered a few of our southern neighbours who are doing their part to uphold the very stereotype that Canadians don't want to be associated with, we understand! That being said, of course we know many completely lovely Americans, and the above revelations about Canadians may mean that Americans would be just as upset if your first guess was wrong...

PS. To our Canadian readers: this was written in the spirit of fun and with the utmost respect for you. No opinions of Canadians were harmed in the making of this post. We love you.

One Byrd flies away

Well, Susie left today. :( She's headed home via LA, and very excited about it all considering how sad we all are to see her go!!

Here's a pic of everyone EXCEPT her at her farewell supper on Sunday night (thanks for the pic, Sus)...


Goodbye Sus! We miss you already!

Vancouver in the Springtime

Cherry blossoms around the corner from where we live...

Stanley Park on Saturday...

Wonderful weekend in Wenatchee: Part 2

Continuing on from the last entry, here's what we got up to during the rest of our Easter weekend in Wenatchee, WA, with Doug and Barb...

First, here are some photos showing the mountains behind their apartment complex. The photo on the right shows "Castlerock" (see it?). The mountains down there are different to the ones we are used to seeing - mainly because they look more jagged and have less trees!



On Saturday morning Doug and Barb took us for a walk alongside the river, over a pedestrian bridge above a railyard, and into the downtown area, where we had a delicious breakfast at a restaurant on the 9th floor of a hotel. Here are some photos of the Wenatchee River, the artworks beside the walking path, and the four of us at breakfast...


That afternoon, Ben and I explored downtown Wenatchee a bit more. The red trolley in the first photo below is their local public transport! We stopped in at Caffe Mela, pictured below, and the next day at the gospel meeting we met the young couple who own it. :)


We also drove up into the hills a little way to admire the Wenatchee Valley and surrounding mountains.


On Saturday evening, Doug and Barb's son Chris, his wife Ana, and their little girl Mia were visiting, so it was nice to meet them too.

The next day, after we went to the meeting, Doug and Barb hosted an Easter lunch in the apartment complex's rec room. We were joined by two couples from their church, Pat and Wiley and Kathy and Greg. Lunch was delicious! It was followed by some excellent attempts by the others to follow our instructions and drink their coffee through a Tim Tam with its opposite corners bitten off (kind of an Aussie tradition, for those of you who don't know)! Here's a photo of us at lunch, and then two videos you might enjoy... Great sports huh?! :)


Pat's rather unsuccessful but extremely entertaining attempt (turn your speakers up!)...

Greg's successful attempt...

And on Monday, we drove home! On the way, we tried some free samples at the Applets and Cotlets factory in Cashmere (these are fruit-based gelatine sweets with an icing sugar coating, like Turkish delight), saw some amazing views of snow-covered mountains, stopped at a random roadside hand-carved knife shop where Ben bought a pocket knife, did a fast tour of a collection of factory outlet stores, and took only 9 minutes to cross the border into Canada. And that was our wonderful weekend - thanks Doug and Barb!