In Bloom

Roses have started to bloom - “so beautiful they’re tacky” as David says. But they really are -burgeoning bouffanted blossoms in pastels and bright sunshiney yellows and sunset pinks, like art deco in South Miami Beach. And the scent is so powerful, so in-your-face, that it is as if someone has soaked them in potpourri- seemingly artificial. The rhododendrons have dropped their petals, painting the starchy grass in deep purples, like bruises on suntanned skin. The lack of rain, and abundance of blue sky weather, has left lawns dry, lacking their normal June luxuriousness. But you don’t see anyone complaining, least of all me. By reputation Vancouver is noted for its pallet of grey through almost every end of the seasonal spectrum. Early summer is generally plagued by soggy rain, or cloud and mist, or just overcast colorless drab, along with the majority of days in all other periods of the year. But I landed in Van 3 weeks ago today, and I have yet to see a substantial drop of rain, or more than an hour stretch of cloudy sky.
I have been having the same conversation on an almost daily basis (as you do when you are in a new place, meeting new people, answering the same fundamental questions about your own personal story). So are you from Vancouver? Well, no, actually I am from Calgary (cringe). At least, I grew up there. Born in Winnipeg. But I’ve been traveling for awhile, and am kind of just trying to stay put somewhere for awhile and set some roots. Oh yeah? How long have you been gone? Where did you go? Well, I was living in Korea for a few years…yeah, South. Ha. I kind of traveled around Asia a bit while I was there. And North America last summer. And I went to school in the Galapagos for a few months last year. And then just got back from 5 months in Australia. Holy shit, you lived in the Galapagos?! (smirk, nod) I bet that was incredible. Good for you, you know. Do it while you can. I want to do that. (smile) Yeah, it’s been great. But, you know, I just want to kind of stand still for a bit. I’ve really missed Canada these past few months and, kind of, learned to appreciate it in a deeper kind of way lately. WELL…you picked the right city. Vancouver is SO beautiful. I mean really, when the weather is like this, is there ANYWHERE else like it?... - And that is how it goes, how they all go, almost eerily to a tee, reinforcing what I already knew boarding the plane in Sydney to come “home” - that Vancouver is where I want to be.
No more has it been true than right now, however, that a place is what you make of it. 3 weeks living in a city, unemployed, as a resident (there is a much more accessible social group when you, and they, are like-minded travelers, to which I am not while on home soil), and without a solid friend or family base in place (with the obvious exception of my brother who has, almost unbelievably, allowed me to take over the floor space in his living room as my own personal apartment for no cost whatsoever), has had the potential of making me a little stir crazy. Not that I don’t adore going out and meeting people. But coming from a city like Sydney where you have to be covered in whip cream to get the attention of a group of people isolated in their own little social knit, or other foreign countries where I lacked the proper lingual capacity to engage in real conversation or bonding with strangers, I had no real expectations of significant social interaction. Everything has, also, been so impermanent for me in each place I have lived for the past 5 years that it feels almost unnecessary to form any real bonds with the people around me knowing I will soon have to leave (this self-protecting philosophy has, obviously, not exactly worked, as I have formed MANY substantial friendships in each place I have lived, but it is still a dominant theory I hold when approaching people initially). However I already feel like I have had the chance to get to know some absolutely incredible people in the short time I have been “wasting” here so far, and already feel far removed from the sad little girl on the sidelines I was at the end of May, watching hoards of beach bums toss Frisbees to each other, deliberately (and almost mockingly so) avoiding a sideways pass in my direction. Between yoga, bike rides, golf games, random drum circle serendipities, and chance meetings in dark sweaty bars, Vancouver has kept me busy and, more importantly, happy.
Travel is so important to me, so fundamental in my framework of “reality”, of what I believe life should embrace. And being involved in the tourism industry in a place that I hold in such high esteem, and feel organically connected to, seems to make so much innate sense. So after a trek back to my roots, to visit with the people that matter the most to me and to spend time in the landscape of my youth, I will return and pursue with an open heart a path in the industry, in whatever way that manifests, so I can still be a part of the universe of travel and the energy and immediacy of experience it involves and, at the same time, carve out a place for myself within a community, a city, a culture, and a national identity. And hopefully soak up some more unseasonal (un-Vancouver) sunny rays at the same time.

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