Transcript↓

It is a commemorable 50th episode. Today I will talk about what I like about Vancouver. I had the same title on my first episode since I started my podcast. As 1 year and 6 months passed since I came to Canada, It is going to be a good opportunity for me to look back and summarize my life so far. 

Let’s get started.  Firstly, the thing I love the most in Vancouver is to enjoy a beer at the beach in the summer. No matter what you say, that is the best thing in Vancouver. because the bright daytime lasts until around 10 pm in summer. Enjoy long-lasting sunset, not so many crowds unlike Tokyo, comfortable temperatures like 25 degrees or something, a beautiful beach and generous regulations which allow beer person to grab some beer at some beaches only in summer. Although we Japanese sometimes go BBQ with colleagues or relatives on the riverside in summer, for me going to the beach and chilling in Vancouver is a more personal, flexible, casual and usual thing, just more enjoy the sun and beer than chatting with friends or being social. It is one of the reasons now I am living here.  

The second thing, I remember last time I talked about this topic, at that moment, I said a lot of parks for free with basket goals. Today I would say, to be more specific, Stanley Park it is too beautiful to jog around the park which has 12 km for the perimeter. Stanley Park is the best place to run ever all over the world. It is, of course, beautiful more than words and what‘s more, the scenery changes every 2 km, we can see some wharves with boats on sea shore, a few minutes later, we can be surprised by the big bridge called lions gate bridge, 10 min later we can find the horizon of the Endless Pacific Ocean, finally we can end up the beautiful beach called English Bay. I couldn’t believe sometimes local people are saying we are living to enjoy the summer in Vancouver until I enjoy the Stanley park in summer.

The last thing is going to be more personal and internal changes which is kind of the feeling, I can say, “Free from others, focus on me.”  To be more specific, personally, I think we Japanese too judge other people, and also we were too judged by them. I always cared about “how other people see me” and also I was always thinking “Why people are not working so hard even though I am working hard.” Almost subconsciously, I was trying to find others’ weaknesses and failures on a daily basis, trying to judge that I like this person, I don’t like that person. That made me mad at someone. Always resulted in stressing out. On the other hand, I realized I don’t know much about me. Since always worked for the sake of someone, because of someone, I ended up losing myself. I was kind of in the race of how much we do but I’ve forgotten what is more important is what I do and for what. Here. No one cares about me, no one interests me. We can see various people from all over the world who have manifold backgrounds, and cultural preferences, whatever. And indeed just busy we don’t have time and money to care about others. I finally started focusing on my ability, my preference and whenever need to change my life, focus on what I can do, where I am, what I want to do and what I would like to be. 

That is basically tough and difficult but sometimes easygoing and exciting. At the end of the day, I like to live here, because I can feel  “Free from others, but just Focus on myself.”

How do you see life in Vancouver from your perspective? Love to hear your impression.