Adventures in Vancouver..

Last night I returned from an awesome 35 hours in Vancouver... amazing how much you can do in such a short period of time! We left Red Deer at 5 am Saturday morning and headed to the airport. I had my fingers crossed that there would be room for me on the flight, as I was flying standby. I was in luck, and handed a boarding pass! Despite the plane being almost completely full, I somehow managed to have an entire row to myself. My mom, who had paid full fare, was stuck between 2 old men, so I was nice and shared my row.

We arrived in Vancouver and we sleepily headed to our hotel, where we checked in, I got prettied up, and then headed to the Emirates Open House... along with 220 other hopefuls. I was given #75 and sent to a room to fill out 3 sheets of scenario questions. 2 hours later, I finally was called in for an interview. Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous. I answered a few simple questions and was invited back for a second interview the next day. Woo hoo! Round one, successful!

After the interview I went to meet my mom for lunch. I was in a happy "I got a second interview, I'm in beautiful Vancouver, it's 30 degrees warmer than home" kind of mood, not really paying attention to where I was going, and found myself completely lost. There I was in downtown Vancouver, surrounded by nothing familiar, walking in painfully uncomfortable high heels. I should probably mention, I had a map of the area in my purse. My Blackberry also is equipped with GPS. That said, there is something about being lost that I love. The thrill of new places that you wouldn't have seen otherwise, the satisfaction when you finally find your way, and it usually makes for good stories. I probably got lost in nearly every Australian city at least once. Eventually, I found my way and met my mom who shook her head at my stupidity.

We met up with Phil, a guy we'd met in Mexico a few weeks ago who happens to live in the city. He drove us around Stanley Park and gave us commentary as he acted as our tour guide. He was very accomodating, even willing to pull over when I'd suddenly yell "STOP!" and then paitiently wait as I'd jump out of the truck and take pictures of the surroundings. We drove down Beach Ave, where I was giddy over the sight of the ocean. Amazing how many times I've seen it, even lived steps from it in Queensland, but it never ceases to amaze me. Phil had plans for the evening, so he brought us back to our hotel, where I slipped on some much more comfortable shoes and jeans and headed out to do some shopping! I'm currently financially.. well, poor. So while my mom whipped out her credit card, I window shopped and wished. By dinner we were exhausted. We headed to a restaurant near our hotel, ate some good food, and headed back to our room. We could have fell asleep right then, but we decided that since we were in Vancouver, we might as well enjoy it. So we headed to the 42nd floor of our hotel, where they have a revolving restaurant overlooking the city. I grabbed a table by the window and we sat having a couple of drinks overlooking the amazing city at night. Definately worth the exhaustion.

The next morning, I woke up, got ready, grabbed something to eat and headed back to the hotel where the interviews were being held. This time it was a group interview. Easy stuff, but you really have to stand out to make it to the next level, and I'm not sure how I measured up. Some people were obvious leaders, very talkative, while others were quiet and didn't have much to contribute to the discussions. I was somewhere in the middle. I'm not getting too excited, because I think that maybe my Emirate journey is ending before it has begun. But it was worth a try, a good experience, and hey, who knows what might happen!

This time I paid attention to where I was, and found my mom at a crepes cafe. Mmm, crepes. We wandered down Robson street awhile longer, and then met up with my friend Andy, who had just moved from Red Deer a few months earlier. OH! We walked by a candy store and I (of course) insisted on going in, and we were rewarded to find FRUIT TINGLES! For those of you who haven't heard me complain about how much I miss them, Fruit Tingles are these candies that my mom and I got addicted to in Australia. I wouldn't be exaggerating if I said I ate a pack of them every day the entire year. Needless to say, we were ecstatic, and bought 14 packs. They also had Tim Tams, Caramello Koalas, and all sorts of great Aussie treats. After spending a huge chunk of money, we proceeded to walk down the beach, take a ferry to Granville Island, watch Andy dance in front of a huge group of people watching live music, and sample amazing fresh salmon. The day went by so fast and before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport. Before we called our taxi we made sure to pick up a piece of pizza by the slice. The weekend was complete. We got lost in the Vancouver airport, ran into somebody we knew, and finally flew home. Great, random weekend in an amazing city.