Shooting for fun

Went with some friends to Coquitlam for indoor shooting last Friday. It was really fun. 

[29-Nov-2013 - Some of the guns we played with]

In our group of 5, there were only 2 of us who have ever used firearms. AA was trained by the French navy. I was trained by the Singapore Police as a teenager. [See NPCC Training from wikipedia.] It is a fun teaser when you tell others, "Oh, the last time I used firearms was a long time ago... as a teenager" and leave it hanging. Akin to the fun PN and I had when we told others that we met at a police station.

Having tried the above firearms, including a .38 revolver (not in photo above), my preference is the "heavy" automatic gun for its easy aim, thanks to the lower recoil. If you look at the Hello Kitty target that JD shared with me, it is easy to understand why.

[29-Nov-2013 Hello Kitty target]

JD was using the "light" automatic and her bullets left traces of gunpowder on the target. You can see that the recoil from the "light" automatic made her bullets go upwards towards the top of the target. I was using the "heavy" automatic, and most of my bullets hit Hello Kitty's chest (imaginary heart) thanks to the lower recoil factor.

All in, it was a fun experience and not too expensive either given that it was "Ladies Night", i.e. cover charges are waived for ladies that night. See total bill for the 1+hour of actual shooting fun for the 5 of us below -- 3 ladies, 2 gentlemen.

[29-Nov-2013 Bill for indoor shooting fun]

For me, there's an additional benefit that I know now that I have overcome my fear of loud "bangs", albeit with ear-muffs on.

Watching B.C. provincial elections

I can't believe the I am staying up to follow the B.C. provincial elections. Until today, I had the "I am not a citizen" and therefore it is not my issue attitude (albeit I am aware of some of the local political issues discussed). But then logging onto Facebook this evening and watching my Canadian friends' Facebook comments about the election results as they unfold was rather interesting.

Still waiting for the final riding: Vancouver-Point Grey. It is an important one, given that it is the incumbent Premier Christy Clark (Liberal) vs David Eby (NDP, note: not NDP's leader). Interestingly, NDP is leading at this moment, but it is a close fight, pending 2 more polls' reports.

[For the Singaporeans reading this: Imagine PAP securing enough seats to form a majority government (i.e. more than 50% of the parliamentary seats), but PM LHL loses his seat to an opposition challenger (who is not even the leader of his/her opposition party).]

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[Update on 15-May-2013 at 01:08AM based on Yahoo! News.]

NDP David Eby (10,162) won Liberal Christy Clark (9,377) by 785 votes at Vancouver-Point Grey. [Click here for the Metro news report.]

Hmm, is it time for a new Premier? Or will there be a by-election with Liberal represented by Christy Clark (e.g. via "resignation" of a lower-ranking Liberal MLA who won)?

B.C. (Canadian) politics is interesting indeed.

Canadian goose / Volunteerism

Just to share a short video of a Canadian goose that I took last week at Stanley Park.

Yes, I think the goose knew I was there, but it was nonplussed about it. IMHO, it helped that I walked up very slowly, calmly and steadily towards it; and also that I was "down-wind" (i.e. the wind was blowing from the goose towards me). Yes, at one point I laughed in my heart at the mental images that if I were not a vegetarian, this would be a good opportunity to spear* the goose and have roast goose! [*Note: I am not suggesting for anyone to do that, for the Canadians treasure their wildlife.]

Canadian Goose

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Last week, I visited various Metro Vancouver tourist attractions thanks to the free pass I received from volunteering with one of these attractions. IMHO, the free pass (for a fortnight) is such a good way to show appreciation to volunteers during BC's Volunteer Appreciation Week.

[2013 Volunteer Appreciation Week

- A fortnight's free pass]

The spirit of volunteerism is strong in Metro Vancouver. [Note: For an idea of how ingrained volunteerism is in the Canadian culture, see the news article below.] For many young Vancouverites, besides contributing to causes that they believe in, it is a way to get references and community experience for their future resumes and/or take a peek into potential careers.

Many newly-arrived immigrants do not instinctively understand the value of volunteering: 

• how it can open up new worlds/opportunities/careers for them, 
• how it can help them break out of their ethnic ghetto, 
• how it can be a part of their process of learning about the Canadian society and integrating with it, 
• how it may be useful to have some Canadian community contacts (especially since many in such social/charity/volunteer organizations are open-to and supportive-of immigrants), and 
• how it may possibly lead to the hard-to-acquire Canadian experience and/or references.

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[Extracted from Yahoo! Finance Insight, dated Wed 24-Apr-2013.]

Volunteering worth $50 billion to Canadian economy

By Brenda Bouw | Insight – Wed, 24 Apr, 2013 11:29 AM EDT

Volunteering not only makes you feel good, turns out it’s also good for the economy.

A new report from TD Bank has pegged the economic value of volunteering in Canada at $50 billion each year, or about three per cent of Canada’s GDP, which is the same size as the Manitoba economy.

“The economic value of volunteering demonstrates that it is possible to get more than what you pay for,” said the report’s authors, TD economists Craig Alexander and Sonya Gulati.

“Put simply, $50 billion represents a lot of value. It is too large to simply dismiss.”

The report marks National Volunteer Week in Canada, which runs from April 21 to 27, and celebrates the estimated 13.3 million volunteers across Canada.

While some might argue volunteering is just free labour, others see it as a way to advance skills or provide selfless acts that allow them to give back to the community.

TD argues volunteerism provides economic value that is “very real,” yet “seldom noticed and rarely discussed.”

For example, it cites opportunity cost for spending a limited resource, “in this case, time – on unpaid work as opposed to paid work.” An example is gaining a skill that better prepares someone for a paid job in the future. There is also value in the generation of social capital, or the “intangible benefits associated with volunteering,” the report says.

TD came up with the $50-billion figure by calculating the estimated 2.1 billion hours worked at average rate of $24 per hour. The data is based on the 2010 Canada Survey of Giving, Volunteering and Participating, from Statistics Canada .

The $50-billion figure is “conservative,” TD says, because it doesn’t include capital investment, for example. The total is also said to be roughly half of the value of Canada’s non-profit sector, as estimated by Statistics Canada.

“If the value of volunteer work were a company, it would be in the league of the largest firms in Canada listed in the S&P/TSX Composite Index – on the basis of market capitalization – sandwiched between corporate giants like Suncor Energy and the Canadian National Railway,” the report says.

While TD sees the report as a fitting way to celebrate National Volunteer Week, the authors addressed the potential “passionate rebuttal” that putting a dollar figure on volunteerism may be considered “distasteful and/or disrespectful.”

“It is short-sighted not to appreciate this perspective and to flippantly ignore the passionate rebuttal to economic valuation,” the report says.

“Despite the skepticism attached to the exercise, putting numbers to volunteering does help to demonstrate the societal and economic importance … Comparison and context enable us to understand and protect volunteering which is generally overlooked and its importance dismissed at first glance. An economic lens fosters appreciation for a crucial element of the social fabric that binds the community together.”

National Volunteer Week began in 1943 as a way to draw attention to the contribution women made at home during the Second World War, according to Volunteer Canada www.volunteer.ca

Volunteer Options

I have been mulling over my volunteer options recently. While I was in Singapore, I had volunteered for around a decade between a teenaged girls' shelter and the Children's Cancer Foundation. [Click here and here.] But I had to quit volunteering by the mid-2000's due to the ridiculous demand that my I.T. management made on my time.

Before I launch right into rebuilding my career in Canada, I would like to commit myself to some volunteer assignments. After all, I would like to live a balanced life by allocating my time between:

• Work (e.g. working as a registered nurse when I receive a job offer), 
• Personal pursuits (e.g. getting a B.C. driving licence and learning French), 
• Voluntary service to the community (see more below), 
• Social time (e.g. hanging out with friends and social groups), 
• Leisure time (e.g. catching movies, dabbling in creativity/arts, blogging, surfing the internet, simply lazing around and watching the world go by).

The thing is, given my broad range of interests, it is really hard for me to decide which areas and what projects to volunteer for. 

That said, I had once volunteered for a televised fund raising event with a Vancouver-based ethnic/cultural group. However, I have decided not to volunteer with them going forward because I would prefer to be serving a wider community (i.e. not limited by linguistic/cultural demarcation). 

Here some options that I have thought of.

1. Vancouver Arts Gallery. I volunteered recently for the Family FUSE Weekend. It was a busy but fulfilling day. Plus Sherry, the Volunteer Coordinator, was really friendly, supportive and encouraging.
2. Theatre production groups. I have been involved on-and-off in a couple of Vancouver theatre productions during my 2+ years here. In fact, between 16th to 23rd Mar-2013, I volunteered at several shows for a fabulous theatre production in downtown Vancouver. Theatre always holds a special place in my heart because of its impact on my life.
3. MOSAIC immigration settlements services "Host - Culture Connections". I have previously spoken with the co-ordinator for the "Host - Culture Connections" programme, the chances of me being accepted as a host is pretty high.
4. MOSAIC immigration settlements services "Workplace Connections Mentoring Program" (after I have eased into an RN job). Last month (Feb-2013), I had an opportunity to meet and share my experience of returning to nursing with some IENs (internationally educated nurses) who were taking a professional-English course at Kwantlen. Given my experience as an IEN who has undergone CRNBC's SEC (Substantially Equivalent Competency assessment), Kwantlen's GNIE nursing re-entry program (Graduate Nurse, Internationally Educated re-entry program), passed the CRNE (Canadian Registered Nurse Exam) and obtained my B.C. nursing registration; other newly arrived IENs may be interested in my experience. 
5. Joining groups that support vulnerable populations. In 2011 and 2012, I had the privilege of sitting in (as a trusted guest, thanks to the reputation of the group I represented) at a couple of sharing sessions run by an LBGT refugee support group. That started me thinking about working/volunteering with vulnerable-population support-groups. On a separate note, I made a donations-in-kind at the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre recently. I arrived late in the afternoon (almost closing time) on a grey and gloomy Vancouver day. The moment I stepped through the entrance, I was struck by the contrast between the weather outside and the buzz inside. I immediately felt that it was a place that was providing important support to this vulnerable population. That got me thinking once again about volunteering with these or other similar groups.
6. [Addendum on 25-Mar-2013 as per suggestion by reader Chrono, see comments below.] Urban farming or sustainability groups. My late-paternal grandfather was a poor farmer in China before he travelled to Singapore (南洋 Nanyang) to make a living. I think it would be an interesting completion of a cycle if I do pick up farming skills. As for sustainability, my friend EM works on sustainability design with an architect firm. I always thought that her work is very interesting and meaningful. I am somewhat guarded with regards to environmentalist groups though, mainly because I do not feel comfortable with the aggressive, confrontational, media-attention-seeking and sometimes destructive approach taking by groups such as PETA. 我不想做个不合理的人。 [I don't want to be an unreasonable person.]
7. Ad-hoc volunteer services that utilize my linguistic, computer, nursing and/or other skills. E.g. Becoming an Emergency Volunteer. Within a month of landing in Canada, I sought to volunteer with various groups since I heard that it was a good way to network and become integrated into the Canadian society. My first application was turned down because I was "too new" in Canada and I was advised to apply again when I became more "settled down" (e.g. at least 3-6 months later). Another of my application proceeded past the point of Criminal Record Check and I was called up for a final follow-up interview to determine my actual volunteer placement assignment. A day before the follow-up interview I received a call that my interview has been postponed due to the interviewer going on an unplanned extended leave. Thus, I was advised to wait some months until the replacement was available and had adjusted into his/her new job. I did not follow-up with that volunteer opportunity.

As you can tell from the above, I am pretty much undecided at the moment. That said, over brunch on Sunday (yesterday) with a social group, I have just committed myself to playing a part in organizing a regional gathering to be held next year (2014). 

My 1st hockey game

On Wednesday, I went to watch the Vancouver Giants vs Brandon Wheat Kings at Pacific Coliseum with PY and her toddler. PY got the free tickets from a charity organization and decided to pull me along. It was the first time watching an ice hockey game "live" for the both of us.

Vancouver Giants vs Brandon Wheat Kings. 2nd goal by BWK.

The Vancouver Giants are the ones in red jerseys. The Brandon Wheat Kings are in yellow-and-white jerseys. The umpires are in vertical black-and-white striped jerseys.

In the video above, you may hear cheering and then "Oh, shit!" That was me, I was cheering because I was happy to capture a goal in the video. But then I realized that the goal was against the Vancouver Giants -- the team that we were supposed to be rooting for since we're from Metro Vancouver. And thus the "Oh, shit!"

Hockey is a big thing amongst many Vancouverites. As you can see from the video below, their children are inducted to the game at an early age. There are freebies, lucky draws, cheerleaders (complete with pom-poms), concession food and drinks (including non-alcoholic section in the arena seats) -- all in, a very healthy family entertainment if not for the "body checks" (i.e. uncalled for violence between players).

Kids Hockey. Remote-controlled blimp dropping gifts.


The final score was Vancouver Giants 2 vs Brandon Wheat Kings 3, with 29 and 28 attempts at goal from each side respectively.

The final score: Giants 2 vs BWK 3

I texted my Canadian-born friend RW about the match. Now that I have experienced it, I like watching ice hockey "live". It moves at a much faster pace and is therefore more exciting than baseball. I even prefer this over soccer (a.k.a. football) because the one-and-only "live" soccer match that I went to was so boring -- 2 groups of men jogging up-and-down the field, with one group making little/minimal attempt to score any goals. [Yeah, I suspect that particular soccer match may be "kelong" one.] RW agreed that we shall go watch an NHL (National Hockey League) match together when I get a RN (registered nurse) job with decent pay.

Autumn scenes

Just to share some autumn scenes.

16-Oct-2012 Red autumn leaves at Langley

19-Oct-2012 Red autumn leaves at Richmond

19-Oct-2012 Elderly couple walking hand-in-hand, Richmond

24-Oct-2012 Migratory birds -- here, there, everywhere;

In the trees, in the sky, on the electrical lines!

Vancouver, heading towards Pacific Coliseum

Lucky first attempts!

My sister emailed me the following today.

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[Extracted from my sister's email]

[Edited URL]

Chanced upon this.  Looks like you have a high quality of life over at Vancouver... Good!

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I have forgotten about my poetry submissions. I submitted 2 entries -- one is amongst those that earned an "Honourable Mention". What a nice surprise, given that this is my first attempt at that genre of poetry.

As luck would have it, the theatrical play that was my first attempt at co-creating and acting in Canada (back in 2011) was nominated for a theatrical award this summer -- albeit the award category was not related to my direct efforts. [Note: I attended the award ceremony back in June this year.]

I think I am getting the beginner's luck once again here in Metro Vancouver. I'm so happy just thinking about my lucky first attempts!

My new slow cooker

I had been thinking about buying a slow cooker for a long time.

Sometime last year, PN asked me why I did not cook more frequently. I told her that I was too lazy and the time spent on cooking seems unjustifiable given that I was just cooking for one (i.e. feeding myself). So she suggested that I buy a slow cooker, set the timer-up so that I get freshly cooked meals each time I return home.

Then earlier this year, when my cousin's wife visited, she made the same suggestion as PN. At the same time, she also shared verbally with me her Traditional Chinese Medicinal recipe for turning white hair to black. [Yes, my cousin's wife does not have any white hair despite being in her late-40's!] The beauty secret tempted me, but still I felt that since I am on a "student budget" I should not buy anything that is "non-essential".

Early in August, I mentioned to a friend in Singapore about my cousin's wife's recipe for regaining black hair. My friend was interested to try it, so I obtained the recipe again form my cousin's wife. Thus I am tempted once again to buy a slow cooker to boil that "magic potion".

So I asked the universe for a "sign" that I should spend that money on my health. Yeah, I am kind of thrifty on the non-essential purchases at the moment given that I had already spent my part of my annual fun budget on the trip to Banff, Alberta.

Last week, the temporary house-mate monk nagged at me about the state of my health. He told me to make 四神汤 ["4 gods soup"] and listed the ingredients for me.

I acted as if I knew nuts about herbal soups and did not quite understand the monk's instructions mainly because I have learnt from previous interactions earlier that week that he wanted to feel wiser* than me. [*Note: More about that, perhaps in a future post.] In any case, his recipe for 四神汤 ["4 gods soup"] is slightly different from my mother's, so I was somewhat confused and had to check the internet. [Apparently my mother has a modified recipe.] The monk did not know that, being Cantonese, I have grown up drinking herbal/medicinal soups; and for a period during my mid-teens and early 20's, my sister and I had to cook for our entire family of 7 -- soup, 2 to 3 dishes and rice daily.

Coincidentally, there was a sale on slow cookers in a shop, so I did some price comparison and online research. Finally I bought a slow cooker last Wednesday.

My new slow cooker

Have you watched the classic Spider Man where Peter Parker designed his own mechanical web-shooters and suddenly he is up for the challenge? Yeah, it feels a bit similar for me with my new slow cooker. Suddenly, so many of the food that I grew up with seems within reasonable reach. E.g. I no longer have to sit next to the stove for 2 hours just to get that nicely creamed Cantonese congee.

My first experiment

Cantonese congee with medicinal ingredients

The next day, I woke up to Cantonese congee with medicinal ingredients. For the following few days, my neighbouring house-mate thought that the monk was cooking mushrooms when he smelled the fragrance of mushrooms in the air. [It was me braising shitake mushrooms with the cooker in my room.] As it is, I have pre-cooked and froze/refrigerated most of my meals for this week. It is really nice to be able to cook specifically to my own taste and also to share good food with friends.

Brunch, encyclopedia and British accent

(A) Brunch

I just returned from brunch with the Mensa Canada group. We ate at Hazelmere Golf and Tennis Club near the American and Canadian border. Given the proximity to the border, several restaurants/outlets fly both the Canadian and American flags outside their stores. It was a lovely ride down south and back, passing by miles and miles of agriculture land, including some horse farms.

I had the buffet breakfast. It was mostly typical English buffet items with a North American touch. Have to say, the food quality is good* at CAD28, inclusive of tax and tips -- but do remember that this is typical bland English-style food, so you'd have to appreciate the ingredients, i.e. do not expect the dishes to be spicy. [*Note: Except for the cooked-on-the-spot egg Benedict which I did not try, as it seems like I'd prefer the ones at The Pantry in Richmond because I like them slightly more runny.] It even has the donut-shaped Canadian award-winning cheese with a dark/black-coloured herbed-rind amongst its cheese-and-cracker selection. [I do not know the name of the cheese, but for now, you can imagine that it looks like the Grey Owl, except that it comes in a donut-shape.]

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(B) Encyclopedia

On my table we have a mix of working adults and retirees from different industries. From trains, to administration, nursing, civil service, accounting, etc. [In previous gatherings, I have met car salesman, clerk, roofing specialist / comedian / videographer, computer specialist, businessman, unemployed, etc.] There is a wide range of occupations and age in the group. Someone shared about a movie based on a real-life story of a very intelligent girl who rose above her squalid life circumstances. In the movie was a real-life joke related to an encyclopedia, so I asked around the table, and it turns out that everyone at my table had access to an encyclopedia when growing-up.

On my way home, I asked the elderly couple (both Mensa members) who were giving me a ride if they had access to an encyclopedia while growing-up. The man had a set and the lady did not have an encyclopedia, but loved to read randomly from the dictionary. She also mentioned that she would checked the "neighbouring words" as well when she looked up a word and/or the page-delimiting words that looks interesting. I mentioned that I did the same too as a child. We agreed that in converting to the digital/internet media, we have lost that random fun-way to extend our vocabulary and knowledge.

Me, growing up amongst my uncle's books

[Note: I was not smiling because 

I was not allowed to for the photo, 

given that I had black-coloured milk teeth.]

In my early childhood, I lived in an extended family. My paternal grandparents doted on my uncle (father's younger brother) and gave him money to buy whatever books he desired. Amongst them was a set of hard-covered encyclopedia (I think it was the Britannica). My family was not English-speaking, and my uncle never spoked English at home, so at that kindergarten age, I could only muster the A-Z and "A for apple, B for boy, C for cat, ..." and so on. Nevertheless, I loved flipping through the thick and heavy encyclopedia books, looking at the pictures, looking for letters, words, pictures that I could recognize or figure out. Sometimes, I even spent time analyzing the pictures to try to understand them and/or correlate back to the words. That caused quite a bit of conflict at home because my uncle was rather possessive about his books, and he did not like us children to touch his things, even though I would personally put the items back exactly where they were from, right-down to the direction of the binder -- yup, I was anal-retentive for details as I wanted to minimized being accused of messing with my uncle's books. After some negotiations amongst the adults, it was finally agreed that the children (us) were allowed to read only the encyclopedia, and only if we handled the books carefully (absolutely no reading with food/drinks nearby) and put the books back in order after use. Being the introvert that I was (and still am), I remember spending hours, randomly flipping through the pages of the encyclopedia (and secretly some other books as well, including the dictionary). My time spent on the encyclopedia was perhaps only matched by my time spent drawing/copying pictures from the English children's story books that my elder brother borrowed from his primary school class library.

Anyway, just to share this story because the current consensus is that IQ is a composite of nature and nurture. In case you're a parent interested in nurturing your child's in-born abilities. [E.g. My GNIE classmate IT whose daughter's linguistic skills is beyond her years, so I told him about Mensa Canada.] Note: I do not currently own any shares of any encyclopedia, dictionary or educational books publishers. I am just sharing this little tidbit for fun.

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(C) British accent

At brunch today, we had a visitor from the British Mensa -- let's call him Mr SA. He is ethnically South Asian and spoke with a posh upper-middle class British accent. [IMHO, not quite the upper-class Queen's English yet, but similar.]

When Mr SA spoke with the other Canadian Mensa members who were formerly from the UK, he asked them whereabouts they grew up. From their interactions/reactions, I deduced that the (Caucasian) ex-Britons grew up in (much) humbler neighbourhoods than Mr SA. Mr SA, it seems, grew-up amongst the posh crowd. As you can tell from my photo above, I wasn't born with a silver spoon -- quite the opposite is true, I was working class. So yes, Mensa members are from all walks of life and spans across social classes, especially in Metro Vancouver. That said, Canada is comparatively socially-equitable and generally not class-obsessed. Thus I could tell from the reactions of the elderly ex-Britons that they did not quite appreciate Mr SA's questions, although they had answered him politely.

After Mr SA left the table to join his family for a shopping trip down at Bellingham, USA, (the lady seated to my right) L mentioned that the USA border guards would probably be confused by Mr SA. His accent is clearly posh-British, but in L's opinion, the USA border guards are typically rather "provincial", and thus they would probably need a double-take to resolve their mental association of "posh-British" = "white skin" when it is clearly a "brown skin" man standing in front of them. Oh what fun!

Picking blackberries

This is in response to asingaporeanson's request on his blog post "Cheap Onions" to see pictures of blackberry vines. To quote from the comments in the above blog post.

Winking Doll commented on 11 September 2012 06:13:

"Yeah, I also enjoy picking fruits fresh from the vine. I have picked a punnet of fresh blackberries from the vine for free 'cos it was growing wild along a pavement. Fun!"

asingaporeanson replied on 11 September 2012 10:39:

"Can you show me some pictures of the vines? I'll love to see them"

Here are some photos taken last summer (i.e. Aug-2011). The vines were cut down during spring this year, so I would have to go elsewhere if I wanted to pick free blackberries this year. There are lots of them growing wild in Richmond, B.C., Canada.

A ripe blackberry in hand is worth 

more than many unripe ones on the vine.

Blackberry on the vine amidst other plants.

The blackberry vine is the prickly one.

My punnet of free blackberries 

picked from the roadside vine.

p.s. Blackberry the fruit is not to be confused with the other Canadian BlackBerry. :-D

De-natured city girl

What is the black arc in the following photo? Make a guess! [See the bottom of this blog entry for the answer.]

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I grew up in Chinatown, and then moving to HDB units in Bukit Ho Swee and subsequently to other HDB new towns. That is, all my life, I have lived in pretty much city environment. Hence, my knowledge of the animal kingdom is very limited.

On this trip to Banff, I hiked at EM's pace and looked out for wildlife together with her. Here are the photos of some rodents I saw along the way, identified with EM's help.

Red Squirrel

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

Golden-mantled Ground Squirrel

(same one as the photo above)

Yellow-pine Chipmunk

American Pika

Clark's Nutcracker (bird) flies

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"If you give a wild animal food, you take away the very thing that makes it special -- its wildness."

When a squirrel isn't "just another squirrel", a "rabbit" is actually a pika [somehow Pikachu comes to mind], a bird isn't "just another bird" but an osprey, and another bird a Clark's nutcracker, somehow the animal kingdom seems a lot more interesting. Somehow the need to retain a natural habitat for this huge variety of life that share this beautiful planet Earth with us seems more important. And given the conflict between human and wildlife needs, the need to consider alternatives to sustain wildlife existence seems a lot more relevant.

Wildlife-crossing (bridge)

The black arc in the 1st photo of this post is actually a tunnel formed by a wildlife-crossing (bridge). The bridge is created to allow wildlife to cross the highway safely (guiding wildlife to use the bridge by fencing the perimeter along the highway); i.e. to reduce road-kill.

Banff trip and thoughts

My long weekend trip to Banff National Park, Alberta, brought out many thoughts -- mostly about sustainability and a country's security. I am busy with the new school semester at the moment, so I will share some of my thoughts later. Meanwhile, here are some photos.

Highway on high grounds

Highway bridge on high grounds

Some of us felt our ears "popping" as we drove along the highway up in the mountains, heading east to Alberta. This gives me a new meaning/association to the phrase “山路” [mountain road]. IMHO, the fabulous scenery en-route is worth a road trip on its own. Do drive carefully for safety though. There are stretches where only one car can pass on each direction with the mountain wall on one side, a steep drop off the edge on the other side (the barrier/railing is missing or under construction/repair).

Johnston Canyon, Banff

We went to Lake Moraine and Johnston Canyon on the 1st day. Beautiful scenery again. Johnston Canyon has 2 trails. The lower one is suitable even for those on wheelchair. We completed the lower trail and did part of the upper one. We saw an osprey (bird) and a few other wildlife on the way up.

On the 2nd day, we did the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail at Lake Louise. Various wildlife viewing on the way up-and-down. We had to keep our eyes and ears open, paused on our hike every now-and-then to spot them. I even saw an avalanche on an opposite mountain and heard a total of 3 avalanches ("bang" like the thunder). There were a couple of stretches on the windy face of the mountain where "grab chains" are provided for safety, because there is no barrier on the narrow path between the hiker and a long, steep, drop-down. At the top, the winds blew on-and-off furiously (imagine driving at around 80km/hr with an open car window), especially towards the end -- at the non-maintained stretch of the trail. I did not dare to cross the path of loose avalanche rocks to the glacier plain. My friend EM did and she touched the glacier. This is a moderately difficult trail, mainly because of the long distance to hike (walk) up. That said, on our way down, we met a couple of elderly ladies, who looked like they were in their 80's, walking casually up the trail -- at an elevation where even EM (a fraction of their age) and I  were panting on our way up. It goes to show, physical fitness depends not on age! I joked with the group (especially EM) that we managed to create a 3rd miracle that day -- having me up and down the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail safely! [Click here for the other 2 hikes that my friends brought me on.]

View from top of the Plain of Six Glaciers Trail, Banff

Windy path to the glaciers

Windy avalanche path of loose rocks at the top

Warning sign near the end of the trail

Rock climber on mountain wall

(spot for the light blue T-shirt)

The best place on earth! 

Driving west, back to "The best place on earth!" -- as the British Columbia signboard states.

Dîner en couleurs [Dinner in colours]

Here's an update on the dinner gathering at my place. Privately, I call it (tongue-in-cheek) "dîner en couleurs" [dinner in colours]. No posh table, chairs and dressing-up for us. I did not even have enough proper cutlery, so we improvised 2 large cups as "individual-use" bowls. In fact, the 2 guys squatted on plastic stools as you can see in the photo below. But we all enjoyed the food and the company.

Before my friends came, I emailed them the menu in English and Mandarin -- my contribution to our French-Mandarin language exchange programme. I stated that [most of] the dishes would be Cantonese peasant food, stuff that I ate as a child in Singapore.

Shortly after we started eating around the coffee (dining) table

Dishes clock-wise from top-left: Braised peanuts, Cantonese congee, stir-fry cabbage with mock "fish cake", mixed-pepper chilli-oil cashew nuts, rendang mock "beef", stir-fry potatoes with mock "meat" (gluten) and shitake mushrooms, Chinese donuts a.k.a. "you zhar gueh" [油炸鬼 or 炸油条]

Dishes clock-wise from bottom-left: "steamed" (microwaved) double-eggs (fresh chicken eggs and salted eggs), stir-fry cabbage with mock "fish cake", mixed-pepper chilli-oil cashew nuts, rendang mock "beef", stir-fry potatoes with mock "meat" (gluten) and shitake mushrooms

What is left of the soya bean milk. The tau huay is all eaten up by me liao (already)!

Food lovingly prepared is usually food enjoyed. I spent 4 hours the night before braising the peanuts over a "low" fire as I do not have an automatic slow-cooker. I spent another 2 hours earlier that day to cook the congee until each rice grain was broken. [My landlord and my "next-room" housemate can attest to my long hours spent hogging the stove.] In the end, I did not have enough time to steam the eggs, so it was microwaved instead.

The verdict: "delicious!" was the feedback. As you can tell from the photo above, more than half of the large pot of congee (almost full pot at the beginning) disappeared into our stomachs shortly after the meal began. [As usual, I forgot to take a photo right at the start of the meal.] When dessert came round, each of us only had stomach-space left for a small serving of tau huay [豆花] (soya bean curd) in tau huay zhui [豆花水] (soya bean milk). But as usual, we gobbled the dessert down before I remember to take a photo. [In fact, I only remembered to take a photo just now (2 days later), but I had (already) finished eating the remaining tau huay liao!] Yes, I had cooked way too much for 4!

As per EM's suggestion, I have frozen some leftovers for our next French-Mandarin class at my French friends' home. AA and EM will have a freezer soon. When they do, EM plans to make Chinese dumplings. I will probably share my mother's "wanton" [云吞] recipe with her.

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Btw, I received a surprise birthday gift from AA and EM that evening. A very lovely and useful pair of hiking boots!

Note: This is on top of the impromptu birthday cake they baked for me at their place on my birthday, some days ago. It was impromptu because I did not tell them in advance that it was my birthday.

My new hiking boots

USA Kids Size 6 boots

Because of my small feet (22cm), it is difficult to buy shoes here in Canada. [Click here for a photo of my foot measurement.] Once I ended up buying a pair of black size 6 1/2 (adult-size) just-below-knee length boots because:

• I totally love its design;
• I wanted a pair of boots with slight heels; 
• It was on sale at a good discount; and
• I could not find anything else nice, that fits my feet, and is within my budget.

I ended up wearing 2 pairs of socks underneath to fit into the boots. Well, I am ok with that, given that the just-below-knee length boots are meant for the cooler/cold climate.

Back to my birthday boots. I am going to wear them during my vacation trip to Banff National Park (Alberta) with PN, EM, ZS and JX this long weekend. [Note: Monday 03-Sep-2012 is Labour Day in Canada.] It will be my first trip outside of B.C. since arriving here almost 2 years ago.

Isn't it glorious to have awesome friends? [Click here and here for some of my adventures with them.]

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Makan Day by Mr Brown

Filipino party and Coquitlam river

The Filipinos in my GNIE sub-group decided to have a BBQ/party and invited me along. I am officially their "adopted Filipino". Cool! We also adopted a Filipino from the other sub-group as he fits better with my sub-group than with his own sub-group, given his easy-going attitude (see "neutral party in Group A" in my earlier blog entry).

At Practicum, we learnt from a Filipino RN there who was our senior from the GNEA program (predecessor of the GNIE program) that their class had a Polish who was "adopted" by the Filipinos in their sub-group too.

AA and I were sad that LP has left our sub-group for she was the "social glue" of the Filipino sub-group. With LP gone, I resolved to make more effort to befriend DL and JC. [Click here and here for my past experience with them.] Afterall, despite some of my negative experience with them, I recognize that their behaviour was more driven by insecurity than anything else. From private feedback (i.e. individuals telling/complaining to me his/her experience with them), I recognize that their behaviour was not personally directed at me. E.g. Even their fellow Filipinos suffered backstabbing from them. It is just who they are at this current point. 

In case you are wondering why I would increase my effort to befriend DL and JC despite their history of backstabbing, even of "their own kind". Here are some wise words borrowed from Dotseng, "This is how politics is conducted in business – there are never any true enemies or friends only merchants of convenience play this game."

Anyway, we had a really nice afternoon, with jovial people bringing food to the potluck. There was lots of yummy food. IJ baked some creamed potatoes (2 special bacon-free pieces for me) and roasted a pig's head for the first time. And I can tell from the colour and texture (by touch) that he did the pig's head excellently. [Albeit I did not eat the pig's head because I am vegetarian.] JC and DL prepared a lovely salad, with shrimp paste similar to Thai salad. [I ate a bit of that to "give face". Thankfully, I'm not so strictly vegetarian.] The desserts prepared by Mrs IT (egg custard flan) and Mrs WA (cassava flan) were excellent. I brought along perogi. Other food include beef spaghetti, Crispy Creme donuts, KFC nuggets (especially popular with the children), spring rolls (non-vegetarian), yam fries, and various items (including ice-cream sandwich) from IJ's well-stock fridge. IJ was a really great host -- stuffing us with so much food and drinks (soda, beer, wine, etc), and keeping us away from doing the dishes!

Coquitlam River

After we have gorged ourselves silly with food, we decided to take a walk down to Coquitlam river nearby. The summer air was warm, trees were shady, the river water was cool and clear, so clear that you can see each pebble on the riverbed. IJ warned us to watch out for bears as he had seen them before at the park. We did not meet any bear but JC incredibly caught a bird with her bare hands! As the bird flew and hopped by the group, various persons made failed attempts at catching it. Only JC was persistent enough to keep trying and finally caught the bird. She was so gentle with it -- stroking the initially-frightened and struggling bird, until it calmed down and started looking around as if nothing happened while it nestled in JC's hand. Once JC opened her hand to release the bird, it flew away to a nearby tree and looked at us from high-grounds. The children had an awesome time playing in the water and throwing pebbles/rocks into the river. IJ said that he would invite us back to watch the salmons run upstream when the salmon spawning season arrives. We are all looking forward to it.

JC with a bird in her hand, 

definitely worth more than 2 in the bush!

Note: Struggling bird (L or top), Calm bird (R or bottom)

After the walk, we returned to IJ's home and resumed feasting. DL took out a karaoke set with tons of pre-recorded song. According to JC, every Filipino household has such a set because all Filipinos love to sing. In fact, everyone in the group (including 2 of the children) took turns to sing, except for the 2 Mrs and IJ. IJ declined to sing, he said that he couldn't sing well. It was a running joke that whenever I sang, either solo or as a duet, the system kept giving high scores -- that the karaoke system was perhaps "made in China" and therefore "racist". I agreed with the joke because frankly I was off-key, missed timings and missed words, etc, but the others sang well (especially JC).

At one point in the evening, IJ's mom who lives in the storey above dropped by. I am glad that she welcomed us and did not mind the ruckus we were creating in our merry-making. 

Time flies when one is having fun. Before long, IT bade goodbye as it was bedtime for his 4 month-old baby girl. [We joked that her nickname is "Semester 2" as she was born at the start of this GNIE semester.] We all left together as it was already past 9pm!

Asthma, Mountains, Hiking, and Friends

I hardly exercise or jog/run more than a block (i.e. from one road intersection to another) here in Metro Vancouver. The main reason being physical exertion in the cold and dry Canadian air quite quickly triggers heavy panting in me, given my asthmatic history.

Once I ran just over a block along a pavement and paused panting profusely while waiting for the traffic light to change. A stranger nearby -- I think he was in nursing scrubs, the Vancouver General Hospital is in the vicinity -- stared with concern at me as I half-bent (hands on my knees) panting away. The lights changed, but I was still panting, so I looked up, gave him my best "I'm ok" wide grin and waved him on.

So it is a miracle how my friends managed to get me up mountains and back down safely, twice.

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One evening towards the end of last summer (Sep-2011), my friend AA called me asking if I would like to join his group (AA, his girlfriend EM and another France-French friend) for a hike the next day. In my mind, I visualized a slow and lazy walk though the woods, much like the MacRitchie jogging track in Singapore. I said, "Yes!" readily and looked forward to a stroll in the park, without asking them where we're headed.

We met up at a Skytrain station just before 7am and drove northwards from Vancouver up West Vancouver to Stawamus Chef. According to B.C. Parks, the First Peak is a "1.5-kilometre trail with an elevation gain of 540 metres" and the Shannon Falls is a "1.5-kilometre hike from the Stawamus Parking Lot." [Note: I didn't know any of this beforehand.]

Many steep flights of stairs, 

from carpark to "Starting Point"

[Photo courtesy of my friend AA]

Just climbing half-way up the many flights of stairs to the "Starting Point" of the hike had me panting non-stop. When we got to the starting point, I thought that we have already reached the peak! When my friends told me that we have only reached the starting point, I honestly told them that I doubt I could make it any higher up. Recognizing my limitations, my friends became my sherpas (carried my bag and pointed out the path), coach (advised how to cross obstacles and cheered me on) and buddies (lifting me here and there). At a nice viewpoint, we took our first break. Thereafter, we pushed on to the First Peak. After surmounting various mossy climbs, bridges, several ladders, ropes and chains, and finally bare rock, we reached the peak. What a view greeted us!

Photo taken by me of my friends,

as they descend the rocky peak.

When we descended to the "Starting Point" at around 2pm, I was pretty happy to achieve what I thought was "mission impossible" for me. Then my friends suggested that we go up the Shannon Falls as well since we have time. I was like, "Err, you guys go ahead, I don't think I can make it."

Once again, my friends convinced me to push on and supported me all the way. Another awesome view, wrapping up an awesome hike. By the time we climbed down the flights of stairs from the "Starting Point" to the carpark, my legs felt like they did not belong to me and could drop-off anytime.

When I reached home, I thanked my friends in my heart as I thought, "Well, that was a really nice once in a lifetime experience!"

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When we gathered for a picnic to celebrate Canada Day about fortnight ago (on Monday), my friends started chatting about hiking again. This time it was PN (a Singaporean), ZS (from PRC), AA (France-French) and his girlfriend EM (France-French) who were all keen on it. GX (a city folk PRC) and myself declined joining. I told them that while I love the views, I was not as fit as I looked, jokingly cited the miracle that AA, EM and their friend had achieved last summer.

PN, ZS, AA and EM were not about to let their good friend (yours truly) miss out on the beauty of nature for a lack of physical fitness. They coaxed me to join them, citing that it wouldn't be as tough as the Stawamus Chief climb. They assured me that if I cannot make it, they would carry me down themselves. So I was once again roped in for the "next hike".

ZS was quick to follow-up, emailing us on the following Thursday about his plans to hike up Cypress Mountain (Hollyburn hiking trail) the next day. Unfortunately, PN could not knock-off from work in time to join us, so it was ZS, AA, EM and me.

We arrived at the parking lot of Cypress Mountain just after 3:30pm. This time around, I passed the snack I prepared to EM and left all the rest my things in my friend's car boot as I knew that I could barely lift myself up the mountain, forget about carrying any weight. We started up the wide gravelly path (which would turn into ski slopes in winter) and we soon met with snow on our path. What we had not taken into account was that the spring/summer climate arrived late this year and the trail was still snow packed. None of us had snow boots on. In fact, I had my nylon/canvas/rubber Singapore sneakers on -- thinking that it would give me better grip of the "mossy grounds"!

Fortunately, ZS, AA and EM were experienced hikers in good physical fitness and they patiently guided me up the snowy slopes. ZS lent me both his hiking sticks which were really useful in stabilizing my base with each step up. Occasionally, AA (the recce) would borrow one of the hiking sticks to test the depth of the snow ahead. That was important as there were areas where the snow was thin and we would fall into a hole/water if we mis-stepped. Interestingly, despite the snow beneath us, the air was no colder than an air-conditioned room in Singapore -- perhaps because of the sun in the clear blue sky shining down on us. We had a break on an outcrop with a nice view of Vancouver downtown in the distance. Then we pushed on up.

At around 5:30pm, I noted the time to everyone as we had planned to return to the starting point at around 7:30pm. That is, we have already spent half our allocated time. The snow was thicker as we went further up. In fact, at some places, the snow was so thick that we were at the heights of tree-tops and walking on tree branches covered in thick snow. EM was worried if we would be able to climb down safely in time (before nightfall), so we decided to forgo the peak.

We began our descent at around 5:40pm. Along the way on a (safe) wide plain, we had fun turning a raincoat into a makeshift toboggan and took turns "sliding" down. [Note: It wasn't steep enough to slide, so someone had to pull the toboggan and its passenger down.] True to his words, ZS offered to piggyback me when I was lagging behind on the descent. Since the Hollyburn trail was not as steep as Stawamus, I pushed on to make the descent myself. When we reached near the "Starting Point", we took out our food and shared a lovely picnic dinner. We returned to the car-park at around 8pm just as the sun was beginning to set.

Me, carefully making each step up the snowy mountain.

[Photo courtesy of my friend EM]

Another "first" for me -- a climb up a snowy mountain. In a straw hat, long-sleeved cotton T-shirt, cotton cloth scarf, jeans and sneakers! Another "mission impossible" accomplished! Another miracle!

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More than the blessings of 2 miraculous "mission impossible" mountain climbs, I count myself very blessed to have a group of close, supportive and reliable friends in Canada. In my heart, I keep repeating, "Thank you, my friends, thank you!"