November 25. Hurray, we are launching the Flagwalk!

Did you already walk along Hamilton Street or Mainland Street? Did you already get a chance to figure out which flag is represented by the decal you were walking by? On our streets Agentina meets Andorra, and Portugal is next to New Zealand. Countries participating in the Olympic Winter Games 2010 are leading the way from BC Place Stadium through Yaletown to South Granville.

People turn over to have a look at them, stop in front of stores and try to figure out if the red, blue and white stripes are France. Or Luxembourg? Or was it the Netherlands? Kids are jumping on them, asking their parents about the countries’ names. This is tricky! Trying hard to hide that we don’t exactly know, we are catching ourselves by not being able to identify all the decals. Did you know how close Thailand’s and Costa Rica’s flags are?

We should better learn our flags - be prepared for flag contests within the next weeks! I will carry my sheet of flags and look them up on my way to work every morning. Still I find myself in trouble with the decals on the 1100 Hamilton block. Will I be able to study them before my boss knows them? The office is already starting to bet on countries. Which one was Uzbekistan? And where is it?

Enjoy the new street decoration. We do.

October 31st. It was impossible to have the normal Saturday afternoon shop and dine walk through the streets. The docks were packed with all kinds of peculiar creatures. A crowd of little ducks, waggling Winnie the Poos and chubby dragons filled the store entrances asking for trick or treat. Knights, pumpkins and little bugs were waiting for their baskets to be filled with candy.                                                   

The parade lead the crowd savely through the streets; guided by ghouls and ghosts dancing around the kids and parents, all participants got into the heritage area. Everyone was ready for trick or treating! Merchants in costumes handed out chocolate and were welcoming the spooky guests.

What a fun day for all participants! Kids and grown ups were visibly enjoying themselves on this eleventh Halloween for kids in Yaletown.

This is a completely new aspect of Yaletown! Where usually Lamborghinis meet Porsches you can find huge trucks today. Yellow-dressed workers are shouting commandos at each other, trying to drown out the noise of the machines. A different life, but for sure lively.

Dust and the smell of change are in the air. We’re getting ready for Olympia! Step by step, only 20 more weeks of preparation.

Last week I woke up in the middle of the night by an incredibly loud and unfamiliar noise. Something was going on down in the streets. I couldn’t spot it. 

It took me a while to realize that it was raining! The first heavy rain after weeks! We had this wonderful summer of warm and long sunny days. Now it’s time to realize that the seasons are changing.

The miniskirts are slowly vanishing from Yaletown’s streets! Our fashionable ladies start to get rigged with the latest boots fashion, blazers replace tanktops. (Don’t forget your suglasses, though; it’s never too dark to be cool.)

But also nature is changing. The leaves are slowly turning yellow. Wind is raising, pulling the branches of the trees in the streets, forcing them to wave. Still they are resisting. Fighting for some late summer days without any leaves on the ground.  Signs of the beginning fall. Or is summer already over?

What do you get when you have 10,000 burning hot firemen from all over the world arrive in Yaletown for the World Police and Fire Games?? A crowd of women. And a lot of cheering spectators. The firefighters are competing today in the Tower Climb rescue drill. A little boring if you spend longer than a few minutes watching the games, but observing the participants preparing for action made it worth while. See these muscles, see these athletes!

I’m  new in Vancouver.
You may know that, the first days you just gather impressions. It is said that after 7.5 seconds your first opinion is fixed. And that you never get a second chance to make a first impression.
So on my first days I set my course through Downtown and Davie Street. I marveled. The last fireworks took place on English Bay. I watched. The Gay Parade whirled through the streets. I admired. But I never felt really involved.

On my third day I finally I got into Yaletown, completely by chance. At once I had the feeling that this district was special. I wanted to be actively part of it, not just watch anymore.
Yaletown managed to catch me within these 7 seconds. Though I’ve never been there before, I had that pleasant feeling of a home away from home. It impressed me with its relaxed atmosphere. People sitting in cafes, adoring the sun and enjoying life. The little breeze from the water supported the atmosphere of everlasting vacation.

In Korea, sometimes people say that, if women are beautiful, everything is forgivable. Of course it would not be appicable to all the situations, but I would not deny this. Yeah, it sounds unfair to me, it is true. No wonder that looking fabulous and gorgeous to other people would be a strong desire and instinct for women over the world.

What comes to your mind when you think of pretty and attractive women? Does anything rings a bell? Bingo! It’s shopping! I would not say that most women are shopoholics, but in some points we love shopping–even if it is window shopping. If it is free to get a lot of stuff in fashion, who would resist that?

In Yaletown, on July 17, I witnessed such a long lineup of ladies waiting for the free swag bags. Oh my goodness! It was over 30 degrees during daytime. It was not windy or cool at all!

I did not think people concerned the hot weather. The shopathon event was supposed to start at 3pm, but people started to line up 2 hours before the event. As far as I knew, the swag bags were limited to 250 people, but I could see tons of people there. Once the ladies got their own bags, they checked them out to see what’s inside. Some of them got a pair of luxurious jeans that were $300 in value. Wow, it would be a good chance to try their luck.

All of them got cosmetics like lip gloss, mascara, and perfume. On top of these, they got a pair of sunglasses that were well designed and pretty. I saw thier faces and they could not stop smiling at each other.
Even though the weather was not the best condition to wait for the bags, people there did not mind at all. Who says that girls are way complicated to understand? Girls are not that compicated as guys usually think. They are satisfied with this sort of event and find happiness.

I wish I could see this kind of event that would be hit in my country.
I would not mind being at the end of the line even it is ridiculously hot as long as I could get what I want.

Photos courtesy of Doug Batchelor Photography

One of my joys in Vancouver is enjoying the nice summer weather. A lot of people like to lie down on the grass in the park to sunbathe. Personally, I would like to have pale skin, so I am not one of the sunbathers here. Nevertheless, I can also have a lot of fun here because there are tons of ongoing events and exhibitions in town that gather local residents together. I would say I am a real “home body”, but here in Vancouver I would not be myself like I am back home. On the weekends, my feet get itchy, so I cannot chill at home at all.

On July 19, there was a free movie playing in David Lam Park in Yaletown. It sounded awesome for me to watch a movie outdoors at night. I called some of my friends to head for the movie together, all of them were excited about seeing the movie outside.

When we got to the park, we were totally overwhelmed by tons of people and the huge screen. Most people already had their spot and were waiting for the movie to start. Almost all of the people knew that which movie was going to play owing to this line [Who ya gonna call?]on the flyers. As you can see, the movie was “Ghostbusters” Fortunately, my friends and I could get a good spot; in the middle of the crowd which was the best spot to see the movie without any problems. Once the movie started, some people started singing.
“When there’s something strange in your neighborhood. Who ya gonna call?..” That song was quite catchy, so it rang continuously in my head even two days later.

Anyways, it will be one of the precious memories that I have had in Vancouver.

I know Yaletown is a quite well-known place for shootimg movies and commercials because of its heritage buildings. I have worked in Yaletown for almost two months, but I have yet to witness this kind of movie shooting. I thought I was not lucky enough to see this.

Somebody said if you were really desirable about something, somebody would make it done!
Yay! This was so true!

Finally, ond day I heard about sometihg going on in Yaletown. Everybody was hectic and busy filming something! I was wondering what they were shooting there. A pretty and neat lady was pushing a stroller in the middle of the Yaletown area with catchy music. A couple of cameramen were about to film her at that moment. Even though they seemed not to make any mistakes, the director wanted to repeat the same scene several times. After half an hour, I got to know that they were working on a stroller commercial.

The stroller seemed quite distinctive and well-made. Although strollers are not my expertise, but I could say that one was quite good.
I assumed that stroller brand is quite high-end, that is why they chose Yaletown for the commercial.

Anyways, it was a good experience for me to see the commercial shooting.

We just spotted this amazing picture of Yaletown on the Internet. But it’s not just pretty! Check out the link below for a higher quality version of the same picture and by zooming you can literally sneak into people’s living-rooms. Check out what it means when someone speaks about Gigapixel Photography! It’s fascinating, freaky and even a bit scary! Take care about what you do in front of your windows…