Canadians and Suspension Bridges

Greetings from Canada! I'm sorry for not writing yesterday, but they arranged for me to go out with the archivist and his family and we were out later than I had expected.

So, I left Fresno, and my wonderful host Jean Janzen. I hopped on a plane which took me to San Francisco. I don't have any pictures of flying this time, since the first flight, I was seated right next to the propeller, which blocked most of my view out the window, and the second flight I was seated on the inside.

However, I did make it through customs with little trouble. The officer did look at me a little funny, like he couldn't quite figure out why I was there, but they let me into the country, so I guess they decided everything was okay.

My bedroom for the week.

My hostess, Mary Ann, but together a little "welcoming package." She may or may not be a little bit Canadian.

My own bathroom (with a beautiful big bathtub)

They have this awesome soap dispenser in the shower, which I thought was pretty cool. I may or may not be easily impressed.

The next morning, I went to church with Richard Thiessen and his family. After church, we went back to their family home, where we at delicious soup made by his wife's mom.

Then, we went touring. We made the drive back to Vancouver, which took about twice as long as usual, because there was an accident along the freeway. (Look at me, using Canadian terms, eh?)

First, we went to the Capilano Suspension Bridge. You can read more about it at the site here. Basically, it's a giant swinging bridge with some other cool attractions built around it. It's also set in a beautiful forest.

The bridge, which is as high as the Statue of Liberty's shoulder, and moves back and forth quite a bit while people are walking on it.

Totem poles. Welcome to Canada.

The river from the bridge. Unfortunately, it is difficult to show how far down this really is from the bridge.

Technically, the area is a rainforest, so there are lots of big, beautiful trees.

They also have bridges set up between trees, which allows you to walk up among the leaves.

A view of the main suspension bridge from the tree bridges.

A blue heron

The canyon cliffs from the bridge. 

The "Cliff Walk." Another walkway along the cliffs of the canyon.

At one point, the bridge curves out from the cliff.

Some portions had glass floors.

Ferns holding onto the cliffside.

My "host family" for the day on part of the glass bridge.

Looking down at the bridge from above.

After this, we went into Vancouver to Stanley Park, which is one of the largest urban parks in North America. It is right out next to the bay, so I got to see the sun as it was setting over the ocean.

The mountains on the other side of the bay.

Oh, Canada!

Cargo ships in the bay.

Then, we went to a Chinese Night Market. It was an interesting experience. It was mostly just loud and crowded  I bought a few pairs of socks that I thought were fun (plus, they were 3 pairs for $5).

Looking at the market from the edge.

Oh, and there was a giant rubber duck.

I wasn't joking.

Eventually we got home late at night. I was tired and went to bed.

This morning, Richard picked me up and took me to the archives. This archives is a little different. It is set in the Mennonite Historical Society of British Columbia (say that five times fast). It's also run with almost all volunteer help. The building is in an area with many retirees, so there are a lot of people who are looking for somewhere to help. So, it sounds like every day, I'll meet more new people.

The main work area/lending library. 

Shelves. They don't use the term "Collections" here. They use "Fonds." I think it's French. For confusion. 

These movable shelves don't have the crank handles, so one has to pull them, which is pretty difficult, since they're heavy.

This shelf of microfilm holds what they call "EMZ" microfilm. These are German documents that hold information on many Mennonite refugees that were seeking German citizenship. They are digitizing all of the files, and then taking information out of it. Each reel has about 3,000 pictures on it, and after 2 years they're about 1/3 of the way through. 

The TARDIS is feeling quite at home here.

Many things here are slightly British. For example, they say "Zed" instead of "Z." "Holiday" instead of "vacation." They also drink a lot of tea. I'm not complaining. I am, however, afraid they're going to think I'm making fun of them. I pick up very quickly on accents, and sometimes catch myself talking just a bit funny. Yesterday, we had a long conversation about accents. yes, they say "Aboot." Since some people like to point it out, they also say "bag" the same way I do. Oh, and they actually do say "eh" here. I have been counting. I'm up to 15 in the past three days. In our conversation on accents, some of the guys said that they said "eh" as a way of allowing for other's input. I told them Americans must not say "eh" then because they don't care about other people's opinions.

So, I'll see you all later, eh?