Racism (2)

Ali G. called and showed up just the night before I flew to B. C. and we went to The Cheesecake Cafe. Actually he had asked me before how it was and I have told him that's a nice but expensive place to eat. Surprisingly the restaurant was very busy and most of the tables were occupied so we waited for a few min. to be sited. Ali G. ordered a kind of sandwich and I had a cup of coffee. Then he ordered one slice of lime cheesecake as we went actually there to taste their cheese cake! I've had Safeway's cheese cake several times, even the frozen ones you get from Superstore has been tried by me, but the lime cheesecake we had was totally different. That little slice cost more than $7!
Then we went to the Future Shop nearby to check their sale on laptops. I was introduced by a friend to a Toshiba laptop which was on sale for $799. I went to customer service to apply for a Future Shop credit card so I can pay monthly. There was a gorgeous blond Canadian girl with deep blue eyes who didn't seem friendly at the beginning. I told her what I wanted and she said that in order for being eligible for a card I had to be living in Canada for more than a year!
That was really stupid. So I gave her a good answer. I said: " What are you talking about? I was born here! " She was kind of shocked but she asked: " Have you lived here in past two year? " or some crap like that. I said: Listen, if you really have a problem with my colour or background, I'll simply walk off here. She said: No! I once dated an Iraqi guy! You see? That's what many people think of me here! I told her: I used to kill Iraqis with my own rifle because they invaded my country! I tried not to use coarse language while being as hard as I could. I just give you a summarized version of what happened between us but what I'm saying is you may face rednecks like that one every day here while meeting nice people too. I got the card finally but didn't buy the laptop!

Stanley Park

In the afternoon of last Sat. we went to Stanley Park, a very beautiful peninsula in Vancouver comprising different beaches. It has also food bars and a outdoor pool but the pool was closed at the time. There were still people enjoying the sands and sun but there were a very few of them. We had our lunch which was mostly fish and chips and then we went to a kind of stage where live music was goin’ on and people were dancing. Weed was being smelled everywhere! That was a group of Hippie people who were enjoying themselves. Amongst them there were some ordinary people as well. Then we took the trial and headed to English Bay. Roller skaters and bikers were enjoying the last sunny days of Vancouver and also hikers and runners. There were blackberry bushes beside the trail but the ripe ones were out of reach. Painters and craftsmen were presenting their works. This is very common in holidays and weekends in Canada, when you go to the walking streets or street festivals and exhibitions.
We then drove to downtown to try a very expensive but delicious Italian ice cream called Mondo Gelato. There are not many branches around. I know there’s not one in Calgary and prob. not in Toronto, Edmonton and other major cities as well.
Vancouver is just amazing, full of restaurants, parks, luxury shops the brands you prob. don’t see anywhere else or may be seen rarely, luxury cars and all entertainment you might be looking for in North America. You can even compare that to Toronto, forget about Calgary or Edmonton! I have to plan for a longer trip to discover its beauty more and more. But it's expensive. I mean staying and enjoying the outdoor and scenery, restaurants, shopping and prob. adult entertainment which I didn't try this time as I was hosted by a family, should cost a lot.
Anyway we headed home after that and marinated chicken legs, drumsticks and breasts were waiting for us in the fridge. We had a good barbecue chicken dinner, made by my cousin. Her husband made us a kind of alcoholic beverage which I can't recall the name. That was mixed with orange juice and I bet It was really hard to drink it without that. That was strong, prob. as strong as the Vodka, Hodani bought once and I didn't even touch that. You could smell strong alcohol easily. That's a 40% booze! And that was all for our Sat. night.
(Photo: people are playing drums and other instruments in Stanley Park and enjoying themselves. That was so much fun)

Grouse Mountain

we all hopped in the Mazda van of my cousin's family and drove to North Vancouver on Sat. morning. It's a very comfortable and roomy vehicle, ideal for big a family. There were 7 of us including me and we all sat really relaxed. North Vancouver which is considered a different city, of course is a bit far from the city my cousin’s family lives and that's Coquitlam. I guess it's about 30 Km. But it's highway all the way and there was no traffic in that beautiful morning of Sep. We went to Grouse Mountain. It’s actually a combination of a few peaks together and is the highest place in Vancouver. We took the gondola and went up all the way to the only station. This one compare to the one I previously rode is huge. The Banff’s only takes 4 people seated but this one carries about 40 people standing. It’s so smooth and takes about 7 min. to reaches up there. You can see all Vancouver, the harbor, the ocean and everything. It’s very beautiful.

Then up there you see trails which take you to different picks. There’s also a restaurant, a gift shop, a place for renting ski and snowboards in winter. Skiers usu. get up there taking the chair lift but that only operates in winter. There are huge, gigantic wooden statutes all over the place. They have been carved by artist and I guess some of them are the native people of Canada. Then we went for a show called birds in motion. There were two Canadian young women who show us how some birds hunt their food, how fast and how precise they are. Among them were an owl and a falcon. The girls called them raptors. We took a few photos and then I bought some gift from the shop and we took the gondola and headed down.

There’s also a show called lumberjack which the men compete in making wooden crafts or something but we didn't wait for that as one of us didn’t join us and was waiting down all time long(!)

A good plan for Grouse Mountain could include hiking all the way to the highest peak, Crown Mountain and other peaks as well, watching the show I just mentioned, taking hundreds of photos, watching bears swimming in their pool, as we did, eating in beautiful fresh air and many other things depends on what you are interested in. You may bike all the way as there’s bike path even beside the highway. A full day is needed to see every beautiul thing around, including suspension bridge which is on your way to the mountain but we didn't go. May be in my next trip to beautiful B. C. next summer or I don't know!

(Photo: Two enormous wooden statues, a fisher and a hiker. They are three times size of a normal person and as you see are carved very artistically)

Diverse Aftershock

I’m back to Calgary after spending my weekend with my relatives in beautiful British Colombia. I had such a good time and they were all very nice to me. They took me to different places and that was so much fun. I’ll write about them later.

But today I was so depressed. When you spend a few days with the people who like you and you like them, you eat together, you laugh together and you have good time, it’s very hard to go back to your small apartment, lonely.

But a few things were actually kind of very shocking to me. First of all the way my cousin and her family lives was surprising to me. They live in a very big and beautiful house which I have no idea how much it worth but I guarantee it's not less than $800,000, and that's the minimum. It has 4 bedrooms, a den and a big living room, dining room, entertainment room, this room, that room and all the rooms which a luxury, modern house might has. The appliances, furniture and ornamental things I saw over there were not just ordinary ones you might see in every house. My two distant cousins told me that they had traveled to Paris a few months ago and God the younger one, Sammi she's so pretty and sweet now. You see pretty girls from everywhere here but she's really something: Tall, slim, long brunette shiny hair, incredibly beautiful eyes, smooth skin and in a word everything you need in a girl. The father, my cousin's husband, spoil them all and specially the boy. He also bought a brand new luxury Nissan for the other girl, Sunny and they have the things that might be people's dream.

Anyway that's how they live but that's not the point. The point is they are together as a family and even though they might have argument off and on, what makes the life and the hard moments bearable for them is being together as a family not having money and luxury life and not living alone like jerks! I know the more often I see my friends and relatives the happier I am but the more I suffer after that! And I don't know what the hell is wrong with me. I forgot my leather jacket, my mobile charger and the souvenirs I bought there!

Early Bird

It's 5 to 06:00 AM now and I didn't sleep well last night. Just got up early to check if anything deposited to my account or not and it is. I checked it late last night but there was nothing there and I was goin' to call payroll today but there's no need for that now.

The damn apartment is cold. It's 2˚ C now and wind chill make it -3˚ C. Fall is here and it started raining the day before and started snowing in Banff and Jasper national parks yesterday. I'm starting early today as I'm flying to B. C. right after work. I'm goin' there to see relatives and freinds, probably.

NDP

I was goin’ to join NDP a few days ago, right after I read what Jack Layton has recently said about Canadian Forces mission in fucking Afghanistan. “This is the wrong mission for Canada” Layton said. I truly believe in that. If you look at the history of Canadian Forces involvement in the world’s conflicts, you’ll see that they were there only when there was a peacekeeping mission was in process. They’ve never faced enemy directly especially Barbarians like fucking Taliban and Al-Qaeda who are being supported by fucking Pakistanis and Arabs. When I see the funerals where parents of young Canadian men and women are hugging each other and weeping, I feel really bad. But what surprises me is why none of these people oppose? They, I think don’t know who really fucking Afghans are. They sacrifice their young human sources for people who deserve nothing but death with torture. Those animals started a war in 1979 and are still fucking fighting against each other. Why the fuck do you fucking care? Let them all fucking kill each other. What would really happen to the world if Afghanistan is not there? Is there any scientist, physician, artist, athlete or in one world a human who his or her existence make any difference to the world, in that shithole? Would be the world deprived of anything? What does those animal, nasty, stinky, pieces of crap export to the rest of the world but illness, violence and stupidity? What the US did to Japan should be done to Afghanistan. A few atomic bombs will really heal that part of the world. But the truth is the US and the stupid Canadians are not there to protect fucking Afghans from Taliban and Al-Qaeda or protect Canada from terrorism, as Harper said once. They are there for other purposes as they are in Iraq. They don’t fucking care what’s happening to bunch of filthy, bare-foot people who live in a devastated country by themselves. What they care about is beyond this post and same as the reason behind the collapse of World Trade Centre towers and other similar incidents as well.

Anyhow I'm goin' to study the party and may be join them in near future. One of the other concerns of them is gun registry which I'll write about that later.