Semester 14 Chapter XXI: Views Everywhere

Hey y’all. Checking back in from Canada. It’s been nearly a week since I arrived here. Last couple of days I’ve been getting familiar with the place. Getting used to the time difference, figuring shit out in the area and, thanks to my lovely people over here, exploring pretty much everything there is to explore here.

 

When I started getting my shit together in terms of energy and sleep deprivation, I established a workout schedule. Since I usually finish work sometime in the morning, I almost always have the apartment for myself until my friends get back from work. So I have plenty of time to do some push-ups, sit-ups and some meditation. They also have this wooden thing above the door frame you can use for pull-ups which is not really a bar tho. It’s more like a board with different holes in it so you can’t really fully wrap your fingers around it. Apparently, it’s by design. It’s not only about the actual pull-ups but also about your grip which comes pretty handy if you’re into climbing. Which they are. For me it means that I’m on about 50% of my regular amount of repeats. I keep sliding off. To compensate for that, I got back to planks. Been couple of years since I stopped but it still kinda goes. Kicked it off with 2 minutes and I’m raising it by 10 seconds every day. Let’s see how far I make it. I also had figure out running. The plan of the city is pretty typical for North America. At least in my experience. You got couple of main roads (avenues) crossed in a pretty regular manner by numbered streets which makes orientation quite simple. However, it’s a bit of a nightmare for running. There’s a junction like every 100 meters. If you take it all the way down the sea tho (about 1.7 km from the apartment), you get to the Spirit Trail which goes by the water all the way west to the ocean. So that’s my shit now. Every time I go there, I run for a bit longer. It kinda reminds me of running and cycling trails in Shanghai. Very well designed, offers really nice views, goes through various neighborhoods and parks…. And it’s rarely disturbed by the city traffic.

 

As for the exploration… Thursday evening, we went to West Vancouver. From what I’ve learned, it’s the poshest area around here and it totally looks like it. Lotta buildings over there look like money. We went to the beach area where lotta people sunbathed, played volleyball and generally enjoyed good weather. The weather has been great since Wednesday btw; sunny and around 25 degrees. Friday, my guys took me downtown. It’s all very lovely over there. Seems like public space actually works. All the parks and beaches are full of people. Public transport everywhere (including these cute little boats and shared cars), lots of areas to hangout, many cool bars and restaurants. The actual city isn’t massive (compared to other megacities I’ve had a chance to see) but it is still pretty fucking big, it has the skyscrapers, the modern vibes, a fucking apple store… But in the combination of nearly Scandinavian surroundings, it all seems pretty people-friendly. We walked for quite some time and we wrapped the evening up with a beer close to the Seabus station. We crossed the river right after and took a bus back home. See, everybody has a fucking car over here but when it comes to the city itself, public transport is totally a feasible alternative.

 

Saturday morning, we packed some shit in the car and went for a trip. First, we stopped by in Squamish, a city around 60km away, to visit some of my people’s friends and get cable car passes. From there, we took it to Sea to Sky Gondola, got in the cable car and went up the mountain for a pretty epic trail. Everything here looks gorgeous. There’s abundance of forests, mountains, crystal clear lakes. You get amazing views almost all the time and the beauty never ends. We spent couple of hours up there, got back down and drove for some dinner to this A Frame brewery with a burger truck right next to it. Both beer and vegan burgers were bomb. After that, we moved to our final destination. At that point, I understood how important it is to have a solid car if you’re into shit like that. We climbed pretty fucking steep hills completely off road like it was nothing. See, when you drive Pluto in Tenerife all the time, sometimes you forget that there actually are normal cars with strong engines that climb up without any problems. And the monster my people drive can handle some solid terrain too. Anyways, we made it to a spot they like with (again) some epic views, met up with two of their friends, set up fire and then talked and drank till late night. The night sky was crazy too. By midnight I felt pretty tired so I got into my tent and called it a day. And that was the best sleep in Canada so far. Woke up around 9, let some of the morning scenery sink in, got some coffee and food with everybody, and then we went back down. See, I’m a fucking amateur when it comes to camping. I enjoy it but I haven’t really done it for real. So yeah, I’m grateful for this experience and I’m grateful for being accompanied by people who know what they’re doing.

 

Well, after all that we went more up north, stopped at some waterfalls and then proceeded to the town of Whistler, where we got some coffee and walked around. Pretty regular small town with some more cable cars and bike trails right by it. Afterwards we moved couple more kilometers north to this Beer Framers joint. As the name suggests, it’s another brewery with a farm attached to it. Yet again, good beer, nice views, great time. There’s one interesting things with the farms over here. In some areas there’s quite a lot of them and they often have a little hut by the road where you can go a take whatever produce they offer. The amazing thing is, there’s nobody there. You get what you want and you send them money for it. Can’t really see this model working in the Czech Republic. It’s lovely. We stopped at one of those for some veggies and then we started moving back to Vancouver. Apart for about 40 minutes of some slow traffic (apparently due to an accident), the journey was smooth. Got back home, had some dinner and got ready for some work before I go to bed. Weekend was fucking bomb.

 

So yeah, back at my temporary room, back at the laptop, another week ahead of me. Even though Canada has never been on my bucket list, I’m super happy I eventually made it up here. There’s definitely something about it. So yeah, shout out to my people here. All of this is highly appreciated. Also sending some love to everyone who needs it. One!

 

Highlights:

• Vancouver downtown.
• Nature every-fucking-where.
• Running. Especially the finish when you have to climb 15 streets uphill.

Semester 14 Chapter XX: Vancouver Czech-in

What’s up y’all. It has finally happened. For the first time since covid I got my ass out of Europe, and for the very first time ever I’m in Canada. Nine-hour time difference, long ass flight, different climate… Just like the good old days. As I got some of my favorite people living here, this was bound to happen for a while. About 6 months ago, we finally sat down, set the dates, I got the tickets and now we’re here.

 

Last week in the Czech Republic was pretty good. I spent a lotta time with my sis over the week and on Friday, we both went to Prague for the weekend. She wanted to spend some time with one of her closest friends (whom I also had a pleasure to meet) and I went to do another tattoo on my head. Priorities. This time the whole session was much shorter, the outcome is beautiful and we set another one shortly after my arrival back from over here. Made it to Brno Sunday afternoon, enjoyed dinner with my sis and dad at her place (we got some awesome pizza from Pizza Punk), slept on a couch and the following morning I was on my was to the bus station.

 

The first part of journey was delays on delays. The bus got delayed by 40 minutes which was fine because there was a pretty solid reserve. However the first plane to Frankfurt stacked up good 45 minutes before even taking off. Which wouldn’t have been a problem under normal circumstances. However, since I had about 80 minutes to transfer initially, at one point I was slowly starting to accept the fact that I might have to spend some time in Germany before they sort it out. Halfway thought the flight, I spoke to one of the cabin crew, he checked my situation in the system and didn’t seem to feel very optimistic about the chances. He did sat me in the business section by the end of the flight tho, so would’t lose additional 15 minutes waiting for people to fuck off before storming out of the aircraft. Which was exactly what I did. It had to be about 2km of sprinting. In the end, I did make it to the gate in time tho. After that it was easy. 9 hours in the air, some decent food, lotta tomato juice (honestly, I only drink that shit on planes) some blockbuster movies. All the usual.

 

I made it over here in the afternoon (= late night at home), hopped on a train, went to the Waterfront station and met up with my friend. The people I’m staying with are the same guys I went to the Malaysian trip couple years back and since I know they both read this blog nearly religiously, I would like to say that they are like the two best people who ever walked the face of Earth. I see you. We hopped on a ferry (the call that shit seabus because why not) and made it to North Vancouver. Oh, and it was like 13 degrees and it was raining. For couple of seconds, it got me thinking… What the fuck have I done. Weather was shit the whole day so we just got out for a beer in the evening. Beer over here costs easily around 10 dollars (or more) and if you come with Czech money, you quickly realize it doesn’t really mean much. At least when it comes to restaurants and bars. Supermarkets and veggie shops seem pretty reasonable.

 

This was two days ago. Yesterday, I spent the morning inside working and catching up with some of my people. In the afternoon, I took a walk around the area. It resembles the States quite a lot. Spread out residential areas with a disturbing amount of big-ass SUVs. Not the friendliest for cyclists, not too much going on culturally. At least not in this part of town. I did manage to get some groceries, walk through some parks and enjoy some fresh air. That’s a good thing here. When you look north, you see mountains just on the edge of the city. It’s all right there. In the evening, when my people got back from work, we hopped in the car and went to this forest park nearby and spent some time over there. It was apparently a taste of what British Columbia has to offer. And it was beautiful. The woods, the river, salmons, otters. It wasn’t raining anymore, temperature was higher and it looks like we’re going only up from now on.

 

For the first time ever, I’m also experimenting with doing my job in a completely different time zone. One-hour difference in Tenerife is a fucking walk in a park compared to this thing. I tried to move things around a bit but I still work quite a lot at nights an early mornings. Which is not necessarily a problem, I feel like I can handle this. It definitely changes the whole routine tho.

 

So yeah, we’re in the middle of the week, there are some plans pending for the next weekend, it is early morning and I’m basically done with work for the most of the day (as I worked most of the night). Hope everyone’s safe and sound. Sending some love to everybody reading. One!

 

Highlights:

• Tattoos.
• Canada.
• That little otter having a blast by the river.

Semester 14 Chapter XIX: Cracow Czech-In

Hey y’all. Yet again, with a little delay but hey… We’re here. Last week was fucking epic. Lotta shit going down, lotta good energy. Different places, different faces, different experiences. It’s Tuesday, it’s a beautiful day out there, energy levels are proper, shit’s looking good. Let’s get to it….

 

Last Monday, I met up with a friend after work and we cycled to the town of Bílovice close to Brno. It’s one of those rides I’ve done dozens of times and it still works. Great weather, it felt good pushing the pedals once again, we had a good chat and some beers too... We wrapped in up in a café in the city center. Happy days. On Wednesday, I hung out with my sis and on Thursday, I went out for a beer with one of my bros. Mind you, I’m taking this no alcohol shit seriously, so I’m 100% on non-alcoholic beer, kombucha, maté and other shit like that.

 

Friday morning, I did some work and then caught a train to Ostrava. Spent about an hour there and then took a bus to Cracow. It’s been like my 3^rd or 4^th time over there so I’m somewhat familiar with the place. I’ve taken flights from there and couple years back, we went there a family trip. First, I located our airbnb and then I proceeded to meet up with the rest of the gang to the Expo building about 6km from the center where the international tattoo convention was taking place. My bro from Prague was sharing a booth with one of his people from Olomouc. Up until then, the only tattoo convention I had visited was the very fist one in Hanoi ages ago. It all looks pretty similar tho. Huge area, countless booths and stalls, tatted-up people everywhere. I waited for them to get everything ready and then we all went to the city center for some dinner. The next two days was the actual event. I spent the time partly exploring the city with some of my people but mostly at the spot. Helping out selling merch, wandering around (got myself a pretty awesome hoodie; shout out to Denoise.pl – check that brand out) and talking shit. Oh, and on Saturday, my bro actually placed 1^st in his category. Super happy I got to be there. Shit felt fucking awesome, we all screamed, it was epic. I still remember the days when we used to do tattoos on fucking tables and cupboards in apartments… All over the place. It’s lovely seeing shit moving like that. This convention is also one of the better ones in Europe so it apparently means something. After Sunday dinner, I walked back to the bus station and around 4am I was back in Brno.

 

Yesterday, it was back to work and then the whole evening with my sis. She’s going through some difficult shit these days so I’m trying to provide all the support I can. And today, after my morning lesson, I took my bike and went out to a shopping mall just outside of Brno to get myself some waterproof hiking shoes. I’m going to Canada in couple of days and my peers from over there texted me saying that this might be a good idea since we wanna spend our weekends hiking and camping in the nature. And it seems like Chucks or Vans won’t cut it.

 

Apart from all of that, it was work, workouts and runs as usual. Time flies, shit’s entertaining, life’s good. Wanna send love to all my people, all people fighting the good fight and all people who bring some positive energy into this world, being nice and all. To the others and to yourself. It does matter. Hope everyone’s doing well. One!

 

Highlights:

• Cycling.
• Cracow Tattoo Convention. Felt good being surrounded by so much ink and creativity. And btw, it's nice seeing families with no tattoos in the crowd. Not getting tattoos, just being curious about the culture. Love it.
  
• The hoodie. Expensive but dope as fuck.