Vancouver, unvarnished

On the right side of this blog you can see the post per year. I started off with 57 posts in 2008, more than once per week! And I started the blog in June, so it was more than twice per week. Back then I had been used to livejournals and used this more like a diary than anything as I visited Beijing and Dublin. I somehow had another 27 posts in 2009, when I stayed in the US, and another 28 in 2010, when I graduated from college and spent another summer in Beijing. I had some political think pieces in there, some random sports takes as well as more diary-like entries. Over time the posts became rarer, more polished - I daresay better - and less spontaneous. I still really enjoy travel writing, but there's not much of an audience any more and it's mostly for my memories. I've stopped that unfiltered recap of a fresh event.

But today I want to start again. I write this from my couch in Vancouver on a Sunday night and I want to publish it within Sunday. I've had some insightful experiences, mostly on the difference between Americans and Canadians, and I want to drop them off here without any refinement.

I arrived here a week before the Canadian federal elections, and ended up at a political event that weekend where Naomi Klein was the star speaker. It was a fascinating experience hearing her and the Vancouver audience discuss the threat that the US now posed to Canada. I realized quickly that Canadians were as well versed on American politics as Americans - in fact the only difference is that Canadians also follow Canadian politics. Many people I've met here understand who the swing senators are and can name the Supreme Court justices. It's the most one-sided relationship ever. Canadians know a lot about Americans and Americans know nothing about Canada. The election itself was pretty interesting to me as well, with the Liberals going from dead in the water to repeat winners with the American influence reshaping everything. The Canadian Nationalism that has arisen now in response to annexation threats is distinct, not as powerful and aggressive like American Nationalism, but more like someone standing tall and replying "don't bully me!" 

I went to the cinema and two of the previews were ads centered on Canadian nationalism. One was for Molson, the other the Real-Canadian-Superstore. There are images of the maple leaf, great prairies of wheat, ice hockey goals and smiling faces. I feel nothing when they play these patriotic messages. However, if you replaced the same ad with the stars and stripes, it would stir up some complicated emotions in me. This touches on a complicated topic that I'm not quite able to articulate on how Canadians and Americans are so close, but yet fundamentally separate countries. 

I am an invisible immigrant here. We share so much culture that no one can guess from talking to me that I am not Canadian. But I need a visa here, and a new bank account, and all new ids and logins and everything. Americans joke about how Canada is a "separate country" but it 100% is, even though there isn't much culture shock. I've long wondered whether Seattle is more similar to Vancouver or Boston. Two months into my time here, I still can't quite say. The climate is nearly identical between Vancouver and Seattle and the outdoorsy habits of the inhabitants are also indistinguishable. But the presence of completely different chains - Tim Horton's, Rexall's, Canadian Tire Company, A&W - does make for a different life experience. Our borders are artificial but extremely consequential.

Floors are higher in Canada but ceilings are lower. There are the same problems as in the US, as in Seattle, with homelessness and fentanol and inequality, but they're not as bad. As I write this I realize I can't back this up with data and that my opinions are largely based on my pre-existing political biases, but they're updated by my in-person anecdotes here. There are fewer homeless folks, better subways and buses, cleaner air. But ambitions are also lower. In America, startups dream about taking over the world. Here their goals are more modest - lead the Canadian market and take a bit of the American market maybe. Canada is just a much smaller country (population-wise) and much less full of itself. The high ceiling in America creates an ethos which encourages people to gamble, not because the odds are good, but because the winners get so rich and their stories get so exalted that they inspire followers. Here expectations seem more grounded in reality.

Vancouver is a great city. Its connection to water and mountains is very similar to Seattle, but it's got better public transportation and Asian restaurants. There's a good life to be had here.