Here I am

Me and Elvis walking through the streets of Vancouver

So here I am. Vancouver, British Columbia in a country called Canada.

After a pretty stressfull arrival for us we made it safe to our new home for the next 4 weeks.

And I'm so thankful for being here. It is just a few days but it was the right decision. I really needed a change and this was the change I waited for too long. But I know, now was the right time. If I went here a couple of years ago I wouldn't appreciate it that much like I do it now.

I really wanted to change a lot of things in my life while I still was in Germany and I always thought this would be pretty hard, but Canada seems to make it much more easy for me.

Germany is my home and I will love it just because it is, but it makes me really sad if I see people here which always have a smile on their faces, greeting you and being friendly without knowing you. And nobody is shocked if you are greeting or avoid eye contact.

These are only small things which make life more easy. And I truly have to say I met a lot of people in other countries who are living in the same way and lots of people at home said to me that this attitude is superficial. Well beside I think the Canadians live this way of life pretty honest I just would like to ask you if being friendly even if it's superficial don't give you a better feeling?

So why being so outspoken to strangers? Nobody is asking for that and often it gives other people a bad feeling. Maybe try it with a compliment or just a smile sometimes. I like the feeling of being good to someone and maybe get back a smile.

You shouldn't lie, that's not what I want to say. If it's a friend of you who is asking for your opinion we should be truly honest but maybe in a nice way. Yes, we can do that.

 Everything would be so much better if we respect each other much more and spread some smiles.

I just talked exactly about this to a good friend of mine in Germany a couple of days ago and she made it to her purpose for speacking out her positive thoughts about people around her. She explained me her reason with this sentence: "Celina, I think we are giving far too little compliments."

Skyline view from the East of Vancouver

What I truly love about Canada is that a lot of people try to live more aware. In Germany I tried to start it but it is pretty difficult and mostly more expensive. If I go to the supermarket in Germany and you find something which says it is healthy you first have to check the ingredients and most time you can find at least one addition which is not healthy. On the contrary sometimes it is really toxic if you take a bit more of it. For example our toothpaste, doesn't matter if it's for adults or for children, got so much fluoride in there. A substance which is highly toxic. Would you eat all of the paste you could die. I was a bit shocked about it. Well I wouldn't eat a whole toothpaste at all but to know that I'm poisoning myself just a little every day makes me feel shattered. Nobody is talking about and you have to check everything by yourself. Our toothpaste is just one of it. I'm surprised, that we all are still alive with all this bad substances around us. When you go in a supermarket in Canada they got a lot of healthy stuff. You have to check the ingredients first but you got a huge range of healthy products which aren't cheating on you. If you be well versed it is much easier to choose the right products.

On the other hand a lot of people raise their food by theirselves and you can find lots of organic farmer markets around here where you can buy fresh food for good money.

A lot of people told me that Vancouver or Canada is pretty expensive. Well it depends on what you are buying. You can buy a lot of expensive stuff but if you have a look around you have a big range of cheaper thngs. Nearly same prices like in my hometown in the Western part of Germany.

So going shopping here is so stress- free. Nobody is in a hurry or is beefing when the row is too long. You don't have to pack your things at the checkstand in a couple of seconds. If they don't pack it for you, you got enough time to pack your things calmly. I totally enjoyed that but find myself by reacting so german as I see the row was pretty long, my first intention was: "Oh no, it will takes so long.". But then I had a look around and could see that everybody was relaxed, I calmed down. Pretty good feeling. Stress could be so bad for yourself, that's insane.

Vancouver Art at Commercial Drive, "Ten Thousand Crows"

Our home for the first month is great. The host is so nice with his two girls. If we got a question he is always willing to answer it, gives us many hints and good talks.

He is raising his food as well and we can use what ever we need. So welcoming. I really feel at home.

Another thing which surprised me a lot was that I never felt one second like being a stranger in this country. Everything feels so common. That's wonderful.

Also we have beautiful weather. When you are thinking of Canada peoples first intention is "cold". Well I knew they got summer as well but I never knew that it is steadily hot.

Trout Lake Park in East Vancouver

For our dog Elvis it was a pretty stressful flight and we needed to wait at the airport for 3 hours to get the visa while Elvis had to wait in his box. This was so horrible and I was so annoyed. But there was a good staff who brought me water for the dog and let me wait at the box while my boyfriend waited in the row for our visa. Really nice.

After this torture everything went really good for Elvis. The dogs are so relaxed as well. Nobody is barking at him like they normally do in Germany. Elvis is acting with the dogs pretty good and we can let him off leash in some parks where he can play with the other dogs. Besides he can walk around at our home and in the garden without disturbing somebody. It is so wonderful to see our dog so happy. I think he handled the shock of the flight really good and I hope I didn't need to bring him in such a situation again.

Chilling dogs while waiting at the supermarket

We talked with our host about living in Vancouver. There is no possibility to stay at his home for more than this month because he already has some other guests. So he suggested us to buy a van as our home because to rent a room or a house is excessive expensive. That's why we had a look online for good vans and we found one pretty fast which catched our attention. A campervan from Vanguard from 1979, exactly the same year in which our car "Henry" in Australia was build.

So we went on for a look and met some really nice guys from spain who sold it.

We checked some things while other people where interested into it as well, but we were the first who came around so they gave us the choice.

And we took it. Well we have to fix some things inside and give him a little upgade but the engine is pretty good and that's the important thing which we need. Until winter we got enough time to work on it and we are itching to start with our new project. It was more than a pretty good deal, nearly a gift. Good for us who had not too much money.
The spanish guys who sold us the van were so friendly and after we made the insurance together we go on to eat some pizza. We had really nice talks and they went on traveling while we're staying. But we keep in touch. That's the best thing for me when you're traveling. Meeting a bunch of wonderful people which you will never forget. I totally love that positive vibes.

I'm so exciting to start living in this van. Another dream which comes true so fast. After all the bad things which happened shortly before leaving Germany everything went more than good for us in Canada. Thank you.

Gypsy life we're coming.

Our new home, Vanguard Camper from 1979