Here in verbatim is an exercise where we each wrote our impressions of the place where we couchsurfed:
We went to the door and tried to open it after tapping on the window to alert them to our presence but someone said “There’s a couch in front of the door” and to come around to the window. So we walked around to a window that led to the kitchen and climbed in and immediately met many people whose names I mostly don’t remember. The kitchen was smallish with a big bowl of salad on the counter (I was later told by a girl from Germany we could have some salad) and just off the kitchen was a bedroom. Our host was in there so we introduced ourselves to her and several others. Past that was the living room strewn with sleeping pads and sleeping bags and a couple of couches. We were told it was “survival of the fittest” to find a sleeping spot. Across the living room was the bathroom and beyond both was another bedroom. Felt immediately like we were in a hostel. Met many people from several countries and everyone was welcoming and had the air of traveler. It smelled like a hostel too. It’s the smell of being abroad or maybe just the smell that results from many different people sharing a relatively small space. It was a bit more chaotic than an actual hostel, but also more friendly. One bathroom for that many people (maybe 15 or so? More? I’m not sure) means waiting one’s turn. We walked out to buy liquor with a girl from Germany and a guy from Mexico, but the liquor store was closed. Got to practice a little German with the many German speakers.
Our host’s hostel was a delightful reminder of less delightful abodes. It was reminiscent of my time in a squatter’s hovel while still feeling safe and a dorm with only the neatest people and a hostel with no cost. I thoroughly enjoy being able to see a community intent on living apart from capitalism. People call it living cheaply, but most people I know who live as cheaply as they can, actually approach goods and life differently. They’re more pleasant, more willing to share, more eager to accept others. We met several people traveling from other nations, all eager to know us and to connect to us. Our hosts’s hostel greets you with a fleet of surfers at the bay win-door, a simpler keyless entry system. The basis of the system is the trust we should have everyday. The fridge is filled with donated food, and the sink is responsibly clean, as one would expect of responsible people. The bathroom sink has a warning on it--warning of its fragility. The living room is filled wall-to-wall with softeners of the floor, foam and air matresses. I imagined as we arranged ourselves for sleep, a program to install bunkbeds, thereby doubling the available sleeping surfaces. Considering some 20 people shared one bath, there was plenty to go around. Even those taking a shower didn’t lengthen the line too much. I hope we’ll never pay to sleep again, and that we can offer the same to others throughout our lives.
And that, folks, is primarily what we experienced of Vancouver.
Stindan Weinson
Showing posts with label Vancouver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vancouver. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Saturday, September 13, 2008
More on getting to Vancouver
We set out hitchhiking on Sunday, September 7 at 12pm at the 41st St. I-5 northbound entrance. We stood on the east side of the on-ramp, just south of the "Hitchhikers Prohibited" sign. Brendan was wearing sunglasses and held a sign that said "Canada" and used his thumb and I took some notes.
We got 2 waves, 1 "I'm only going a little ways" hand signal (thumb and forefinger spaced about an inch apart), 1 "hang-ten" sign plus a "whoo!", 1 thumbs up, 1 enigmatic shrug, 1 honk+wave, 1 nod, 2 points to the sky, 1 yell of "rock!" and 1 "I'm not going to Canada." The entrance was moderately busy. Over the course of one minute at 12:14pm 7 potential rides passed, and likewise at 12:17 12 potential rides passed. At times there would be bursts of 20 or so potential rides.
At 12:22pm we got picked up by Darryl (names have been changed), driving a 2 door grey Saab. It's amazing the things you can learn about a person in a short car ride. When you don't know someone at all, every detail they tell you seems like such an opening up, almost as if they are trusting you with their lives, and that's the most beautiful thing about hitchhiking to me. Both the people picking up and those doing the hitching are offering a huge amount a trust in one another. I love it.
Anyway, Darryl was laid off last week from his construction work job. He has a couple side jobs but he was worried about money and finding a new job. He never went to college and is following in his father's footsteps by working in construction. He was on his way to his parents' home to pick up his kids. He must have become a dad very young; he only appeared to be in his early 20s. We told him about our plans to write a book about hitchhiking and he seemed excited about our project and that he might be a part of our story. Darryl just took us as far as exit 202 in Marysville.
We'd been waiting probably less than 2 minutes when we got picked up at 12:37pm by a middle-aged couple in a Chrysler going all the way to Vancouver, where they live. They'd been in Seattle visiting their daughter and son-in-law, who both went to UW and graduated about 6 years ago. They are from South Korea and have lived in Vancouver about 10 years.
At approximately 2:05pm we got to the border patrol and, looking at our passports, the officer asked us how we were related to our drivers. We responded that we were hitchhikers and he said "We frown upon hitchhiking in Canada." We said "Really?" and he said yes and asked us if what he saw was all we had with us and we said yes. Then he told us to get out of the car with our stuff and he told our driver "You shouldn't pick up hitchhikers." We got out and the officer told our drivers to go on and us to to go to the office. At the office Brendan asked point-blank if hitchhiking is illegal in Canada and the officer said it certainly was and he was trying to be subtle in front of our drivers. Later we wondered why on earth he was trying to be subtle--if hitchhiking is really illegal in Canada shouldn't Canadians be the first to know? Now I wonder if it's just that he was lying to us because several other resources we've seen have said hitchhiking is not illegal in Canada.
The officer checked out our ticket to Las Vegas and told us we should take the bus to Vancouver. We were so upset at Canada and that officer and that we hadn't had a chance to say goodbye or thank you to our drivers, but we took a little break and ate some sandwiches we'd packed and at least then we weren't hungry. We talked to some folks at the information center about how to catch the nearest bus and get to Vancouver. It's ridiculous, really. One has to cross 4 lanes of freeway and walk along the side of the freeway and cross an on ramp and climb up a hill and over a cement wall and cross another road in order to get to the bus. And this is something pedestrians who cross the border frequently are used to doing!
As we climbed the little wall and the bus stop came to sight we realized the bus was approaching and we were still some distance away, so we ran to catch it. The delightful driver welcomed us aboard and said he would buy our tickets for us. He asked us where we from and said he was from Seattle and told us we had to try Dixie's in Bellevue and tell them he said hello. He told us what other bus to take to get us to Vancouver and then proceeded to converse with us the entire ride. He'd been a mortician in Seattle, but since permits and licenses don't necessarily cross the border and he didn't want to go back to school, he became a bus driver.
He dropped us off in Surrey where we caught a bus to downtown Vancouver and from there the Skytrain to the street where we stayed. It turned out we were at the opposite end of the street from where we needed to be, but a long walk got us there eventually.
We got 2 waves, 1 "I'm only going a little ways" hand signal (thumb and forefinger spaced about an inch apart), 1 "hang-ten" sign plus a "whoo!", 1 thumbs up, 1 enigmatic shrug, 1 honk+wave, 1 nod, 2 points to the sky, 1 yell of "rock!" and 1 "I'm not going to Canada." The entrance was moderately busy. Over the course of one minute at 12:14pm 7 potential rides passed, and likewise at 12:17 12 potential rides passed. At times there would be bursts of 20 or so potential rides.
At 12:22pm we got picked up by Darryl (names have been changed), driving a 2 door grey Saab. It's amazing the things you can learn about a person in a short car ride. When you don't know someone at all, every detail they tell you seems like such an opening up, almost as if they are trusting you with their lives, and that's the most beautiful thing about hitchhiking to me. Both the people picking up and those doing the hitching are offering a huge amount a trust in one another. I love it.
Anyway, Darryl was laid off last week from his construction work job. He has a couple side jobs but he was worried about money and finding a new job. He never went to college and is following in his father's footsteps by working in construction. He was on his way to his parents' home to pick up his kids. He must have become a dad very young; he only appeared to be in his early 20s. We told him about our plans to write a book about hitchhiking and he seemed excited about our project and that he might be a part of our story. Darryl just took us as far as exit 202 in Marysville.
We'd been waiting probably less than 2 minutes when we got picked up at 12:37pm by a middle-aged couple in a Chrysler going all the way to Vancouver, where they live. They'd been in Seattle visiting their daughter and son-in-law, who both went to UW and graduated about 6 years ago. They are from South Korea and have lived in Vancouver about 10 years.
At approximately 2:05pm we got to the border patrol and, looking at our passports, the officer asked us how we were related to our drivers. We responded that we were hitchhikers and he said "We frown upon hitchhiking in Canada." We said "Really?" and he said yes and asked us if what he saw was all we had with us and we said yes. Then he told us to get out of the car with our stuff and he told our driver "You shouldn't pick up hitchhikers." We got out and the officer told our drivers to go on and us to to go to the office. At the office Brendan asked point-blank if hitchhiking is illegal in Canada and the officer said it certainly was and he was trying to be subtle in front of our drivers. Later we wondered why on earth he was trying to be subtle--if hitchhiking is really illegal in Canada shouldn't Canadians be the first to know? Now I wonder if it's just that he was lying to us because several other resources we've seen have said hitchhiking is not illegal in Canada.
The officer checked out our ticket to Las Vegas and told us we should take the bus to Vancouver. We were so upset at Canada and that officer and that we hadn't had a chance to say goodbye or thank you to our drivers, but we took a little break and ate some sandwiches we'd packed and at least then we weren't hungry. We talked to some folks at the information center about how to catch the nearest bus and get to Vancouver. It's ridiculous, really. One has to cross 4 lanes of freeway and walk along the side of the freeway and cross an on ramp and climb up a hill and over a cement wall and cross another road in order to get to the bus. And this is something pedestrians who cross the border frequently are used to doing!
As we climbed the little wall and the bus stop came to sight we realized the bus was approaching and we were still some distance away, so we ran to catch it. The delightful driver welcomed us aboard and said he would buy our tickets for us. He asked us where we from and said he was from Seattle and told us we had to try Dixie's in Bellevue and tell them he said hello. He told us what other bus to take to get us to Vancouver and then proceeded to converse with us the entire ride. He'd been a mortician in Seattle, but since permits and licenses don't necessarily cross the border and he didn't want to go back to school, he became a bus driver.
He dropped us off in Surrey where we caught a bus to downtown Vancouver and from there the Skytrain to the street where we stayed. It turned out we were at the opposite end of the street from where we needed to be, but a long walk got us there eventually.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Vancouver and Vegas
So much news in this post. This was kind of our first foray into our big plans... We haven't yet begun our journey, but this is a taste of what's to come.
On Sunday at noon, we set out northbound hitchhiking from an Everett freeway entrance. we caught 2 rides in a matter of just half an hour, and the second took us all the way to the border. The border patrol hassled us, and kicked us out of our ride without letting us say goodbye or thank our drivers. Apparently HITCHHIKING IN CANADA IS ILLEGAL. (No, it is legal: hear our border hassles) Doesn't stop us from mostly getting rides from Canadians. Apparently Canadians are hip with it, but their Gov't is not, go figure. We're almost sure it IS LEGAL IN USA, as we've been passed by cops twice, and neither batted an eye.
We took the Bus in Vancouver to our Couchsurfing hostel. Two delightful couchsurfers have set up their apartment as a de facto free hostel. (Not sure what de facto means, but it sounds right there). They have a bay window, which, as far as I can tell is always open, and travelers come and go all day and night, partying 20 of 24 hours, and sleeping in the snoring carpet of 16 or so floor cushions in the rather sizable living room. For all the 15-25 people in the house at one time, living, breathing, showering, the whole place feels as safe and clean as a regular hostel, and much more open and friendly. It helps, I'm sure, that everyone knows to be grateful and gracious for free room (and board if veggies, veggies, veggies overflowing the fridge is your style). Bathroom lines were not excessively long; even in the morning with showers, people conscientiously took showers once/3 days probably, and then only 5-10 minutes.
It makes you realize how happily we should live communally.
On Sunday at noon, we set out northbound hitchhiking from an Everett freeway entrance. we caught 2 rides in a matter of just half an hour, and the second took us all the way to the border. The border patrol hassled us, and kicked us out of our ride without letting us say goodbye or thank our drivers. Apparently HITCHHIKING IN CANADA IS ILLEGAL. (No, it is legal: hear our border hassles) Doesn't stop us from mostly getting rides from Canadians. Apparently Canadians are hip with it, but their Gov't is not, go figure. We're almost sure it IS LEGAL IN USA, as we've been passed by cops twice, and neither batted an eye.
We took the Bus in Vancouver to our Couchsurfing hostel. Two delightful couchsurfers have set up their apartment as a de facto free hostel. (Not sure what de facto means, but it sounds right there). They have a bay window, which, as far as I can tell is always open, and travelers come and go all day and night, partying 20 of 24 hours, and sleeping in the snoring carpet of 16 or so floor cushions in the rather sizable living room. For all the 15-25 people in the house at one time, living, breathing, showering, the whole place feels as safe and clean as a regular hostel, and much more open and friendly. It helps, I'm sure, that everyone knows to be grateful and gracious for free room (and board if veggies, veggies, veggies overflowing the fridge is your style). Bathroom lines were not excessively long; even in the morning with showers, people conscientiously took showers once/3 days probably, and then only 5-10 minutes.
It makes you realize how happily we should live communally.
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