Ok, let's start with some content and see if the structure will eventually come back. It should also bring back my willingness to finish importing old posts into this new and hopefully safer blog database.
This trip to Vancouver has been incredible. I was a bit hesitant to dive in full adventurous mode, specially with the possibility of running into people I did not want to see, but things worked out amazingly well.
The first thing that made me less anxious was an initial invite by someone I had been chatting with on Scruff. He seemed genuinely nice and equally spontaneous, so we chatted a bit via WhatsApp and arranged to meet after I land in the city. Unfortunately he got some cold feet, maybe after talking to his roommate and some friends at work, which is totally understandable. The awesome thing was that by then I had finally gotten a nice offer from CouchSurfing!
I met Graham that Wednesday and he took me to a beach close to Davie Village, where I entered the waters of the Pacific Ocean for the first time ever. We had a great time talking about my usual topics of conversation, like politics and drag race. When we went back to his place, his partner Mok came back from work and we all had dinner together while watching Amazing Race Canada. Mok happened to be a drag queen, and he was finishing some lavish looks for an event happening on Thursday evening. I would have loved to have tickets to that event, but one of the downsides of travelling spontaneously like this is to miss tightly planned events like that. Close to 10pm we went out to watch the fireworks that were happening down at the beach, and that was lovely. The synchrony between the fireworks and the music definitely makes for a better show. After it was done, we did like the hundreds of thousands of people around us and rushed through the closed streets to get back home. It felt interestingly surreal to watch this crowd phenomenon as an outsider. We called it an early night, and that was the end of my time with Graham and Mok.
The next day was full of great new meetings. As I left Graham's place, I walked up to Davie and Bute, where I started trying to find someone to have breakfast with. I ended up meeting Richard, who joined me at a nice diner right there at the intersection and we ate together. Richard and I chilled together a bit longer, until it was time for me to meet Minoo, who I was really looking forward to reconnect with. She hasn't changed a bit, still as sweet looking as when we went to college together. She took me to a dessert place where I had a cheesecake, and then we walked around town to her workplace downtown (I think?). After that I went back to David and Bute to have an iced tea with this guy Bryan that I was chatting with on and off. He turned out to be a great new friend, as we share a lot in common (specially nerdy things like appetite for video and board games). He invited me to join his pride kick-off get together at his place the day after, which was super sweet. When he left to run some errands I stayed down at Sunset Beach, where later I met Steve and his dog Shay (?). They were playing fetch on the seawall, and his dog never got tired of jumping onto the sea to catch the ball, while amused passerbys were smiling and taking pictures. Steve and I had a great chat that afternoon, and I got to meet yet another very interesting life story that makes these travels so interesting. When the work day was over, I made my way to Robson and Jervis where I was meeting this lovely Kiwi guy called Pat. He had been offering to host me if I didn't hear from other Couch Surfers, which I found really sweet. We started with a drink at his go-to place for casual evenings, and once we found out we both loved karaoke we were destined for a night of pure fun. We went to a Korean Karaoke bar, where we spent an hour alternating songs between each other. The night could have ended there, but I convinced Pat to check how Davie Village was doing in preparation for pride weekend. He took me to Pump Jack, where we watched a few guys strip to their underwear and play pool. Then we headed over to Numbers, where they have a little Karaoke room on the third floor (!). It's not Korean style, but on a quiet Thursday night that was just as nice. We sang a few songs with a few other karaoke affectionados there, and then we finally called it a night.
Friday was equally interesting, as I got some work done in the morning, and then went back to my new favourite intersection in the city: Davie and Bute. I bumped into Richard there, and we chatted a bit until he had to go get some more of his beauty sleep. I then met with Steve, who took me on a nice tour of Stanley Park and UBC. Yet again his dog Shay was restlessly running after the ball to fetch it and return for another throw. He then went for a nap in the afternoon, so I had some Indian lunch and headed back to Davie and Bute. When Pat was finally done working, I went to meet him and get ready to go to Bryan's pride kickoff get together. We stopped by BC Liquor to get some booze, and I obviously opted for some New Zealand Sauvingnon Blanc, or as my new Kiwi friend calls it, a taste of high school. We arrived at Bryan's place and there were already a group of awesome folks hanging out with him. His boyfriend Mark is equally as attractive and fun and he is, so the night went by better than I could ever hope for. When the sun had finally completely set, some of us decided to go out to the street festival going on around Davie Street. A visitor from Seattle (Matt), a couple of Bryan's friends that were at the party (Kyle and Young), and their late addition to the group (Marc and Mike). We checked out the awfully long lines to most places that had a liquor license, and ended up deciding to stay at a Japanese restaurant, drinking some sake and plum wine. When they were about to close we left and while some people were now drunk enough to brave the long lines, Matt and I just decided to end the night quietly at 212, hehe.
We woke up pretty early on Saturday, and as Matt made his way back to his friend's place, I had some hangover breakfast at Joe's Grill. I walked around the neighbourhood a little bit, and then reconnected with Bryan, who joined me a nice morning at Nelson Park, admiring the little farmer's market that was going on. I planned on buying some peaches, but never got around to doing it, lol. When his boyfriend Mark woke up and regained functional consciousness, I went over to help them clean up a bit from the get together of the night before. We decided to continue the pride spirit by planning a new get together that evening, which their friend Dan volunteered to host. The 3 of us enjoyed the afternoon together, had some Greek lunch, and then headed over to Dan's place, where a different group of fun new people were drinking and being merry. We left at night to watch the next set of fireworks at the beach, and unfortunately this time I didn't find anyone playing the synchronised music out loud anywhere. After the show we ended up at Bryan and Mark's place, where we continued drinking until we called it a night. Bryan and Mark kindly offered to host me for the rest of my stay in Vancouver, so my adventurous travel worked out positively yet again. =D
Sunday was the day to watch the parade, which we did after a quick pit stop at Tim Hortons. Watching it while chilling at the side of the road, sitting down with friends, is a lot easier than the way we mostly watch the Toronto parade. We left a bit after being disappointed with not seeing Trudeau on the Liberal float, and we checked out some of the stands that were setup by a stage on Sunset Beach. Kevin and Cody from the day before were having drinks at Celebrities, so we went to join them. There was this best ass contest going on, but for girls (o.O), so we left, haha. We were trying to decide what to do for the rest of the day when Young and the Restless (Kyle and Marc) showed up at Bryan and Mark's place with drinks. We chilled together until sunset yet again, and since people were hungry we headed to a poutine place at around... Davie and Bute! =) There was a great group of people invading the intersection every time the light went red for the flow of cars, hehe. So we had poutine (and some more drinks) and checked out the possible places we could go. Once again all the lines were crazy, and we even joined the one to get into Junction for some 20 minutes, but ain't nobody got time for that anymore. We left and found a Vietnamese restaurant where we finished our night with more drinks.
The day after was a statutory holiday both in BC and in Ontario, so the pride fun could continue. Bryan, Mark and I played some Eon Altar (it's still fun!) and then had brunch together at Joe's Grill. We planned a last get together to say farewell to the crazy pride drinking, so some of the usual suspects showed up for some board games and slightly alcoholic beverages for the perfect gran finale. Bryan barbecued (or grilled?) some burgers and hot dogs for us, and I made another attempt at my new party dish: Daredeviled Eggs. The craziness was kept to a minimum that evening, but it was the best way to finish off an amazing pride experience in Vancouver.
I write this on Tuesday, my first day back to work in a while. I got some stuff done in the morning, and it's worthwhile pointing out that to work in Toronto's timezone I do a 6am to 2pm shift here in Vancouver. I then met one more nice Vancouverite called Mike, who I had been chatting with, also on and off. I saw Pat once again to thank him for the great time we had on Thursday and fetch some things I had forgotten at his place, and now I'm here at Bryan and Mark's place, obviously inspired to write this post because of the epicness of this trip. I may still meet some awesome new people here, and potentially hangout with Graham and Mok one last time before I head home tomorrow, so there's a chance (fingers crossed) I'll want to write another post really soon after this.
In case it happens:
SeeYa,
Feliploko, who had to get refamiliarised with the structured ritual of writing posts.
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