A Sunny Weekend

A Sunny Weekend
Originally uploaded by thnkfst.

After a week full of rain again, most Vancouverites were wondering if the sun actually exists.. Well at least the weekend was so beautiful. We went down to watch the sunset tonight and ended up with a few cool shots. Finally! I actually only took 2 days of photos for the month of April this year! Yes we had a lot of rain this month...

I was only able to swim once this week. I hope I can sneak in some early mornings or later nights.

Seeing Through The Clouds

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This weeks Photo Hunt Theme is Rare.

This was a rare site which I was so happy to capture one September evening in Montreux, Switzerland. The sun was showing it's rays through the clouds and resulted in such a rare yet beautiful site. If you look closely, you can also see it was raining pretty hard, which is why it is so dark everywhere.

Canadian Immigration

So any guesses how long it takes for a letter from Canadian immigration to arrive?

It's been 1 wk and counting...

Sounds like Canadian Passports and Immigration are tied together...

Maybe If I walked to personally carry the letter back from their office, it would arrive quicker?

How much slower can we get? Any guesses or bets?

** nothing in the mail yesterday - won't know until after 5pm tonight **

Montreux Jazz Festival

A new update for the 2007 Montreux Jazz festival has been announced and it makes me so excited inside. Too bad we won't be planning a trip there to see all the great bands. And for my tastes there are many!

Here's the list of some of the musicians attending. I also read Nora Jones will be there. My picks would be Faithless, Foreigner, George Benson and maybe a few more. P would be looking at Faithless and Pat Metheny for sure. But when tickets start at 99CHF, it really makes you think again...

Faithless
The Chemical Brothers
The Beastie Boys
Placebo
Motörhead
Tori Amos
Ismael Lo
Youssou N'dour
Chick Corea
George Benson
Al Jarreau
Jeff Beck
Rickie Lee Jones
Van Morrison
Pet Shop Boys
Solomon Burke
Seal
Jimmy Cliff
The B-52s
Pat Metheny
Lambchop
Maria Bethânia
Foreigner
Roger Hodgson
Wu-Tang Clan

The jazz festival is also scaling back acts and not including the casino as one of the featured venues. Read more about the Montreux Jazz Festival from Swiss Info..

Bringing Culture to Vancouver

Last Friday while I was riding the bus to catch my ride to the swim meet, I had a great conversation with a fellow team mate which led me to a revelation.

Everyone asks me what I like about Vancouver, and why I moved here in the first place. The reason why I moved to Vancouver was because I couldn't get a long term permit to live in Switzerland and I knew I could adopt Vancouver as my new home permanently. P came into my life shortly after coming here and now that makes my stay even more permanent.

I like Vancouver because it's quite like Switzerland in many ways. But the main reason why I miss Switzerland I have finally discovered or been able to pinpoint it and admit it.

Vancouver lacks culture! The Proof is in the Vancouver Sun write up that organizers need to bring more of a Parisian culture to Vancouver before visitors get here for 2010. We lack outdoor patios and people watching scenarios.

I know I've said this many times and I probably say it every time I comment on Swiss posts. People in Europe are so lucky to have so many festivals, so many outdoor pubs when spring and summer and early fall are around. You enjoy the outdoors, the people and you are social. You get to enjoy many outdoor markets and fun activities on a Saturday morning which just don't exist here in Vancouver. But it's just not in the main city center of a large city. This culture exists in every small village around. I know it also exists in many areas in the Alsace region. But I can only speak from my experiences of where I lived.

For me, I guess it's a reverse culture shock. You don't know what you miss until it doesn't exist anymore. Instead here in Vancouver, we just try to re-adjust to doing all of the fun outdoor activities which make up for the lack of culture. As well, when there is a cultural event, it's usually so far away that it's not worth trying to go to it.

I'm sure the problem also stems from the age of Vancouver. Traditions aren't more than 150 years old or so. In fact, North Vancouver is just celebrating it's 100th birthday this year! We are looking forward to the celebrations on July 1st and well into August as that is when the North Shore lights up with culture. But I guess I just need to keep my eyes peeled for more of what the Vancouver area has to offer.

Swimming Update

Quick update on the swim meet.

Friday I swam the 200m breast. I won my heat, won the event and bettered my entry time by 10 seconds...

Unfortunately, I missed breaking the BC record by less than a second. So I guess I have a goal now that I'm so close... My time was 2:53.51 just in case you were wondering..

I was so dead tired, didn't get home until 8:30pm! That's late when you need need to get up at 5:30am the next morning to swim again.

Saturday - 400 IM (5:35), 200 Back (2:38). Went about the expected times. I guess it's par for my training. I was really tired in my second event. But my training has been paying off. So I guess we have something to look forward to in the future. I had taken a good 8 plus years off from swimming...

We won't talk about how tired and cranky I am now because it's bad! I took a 1.5 hr nap when I got home...

Steps at Einstein House

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This weeks Photo Hunt Theme is Steps.

I know I've shown a pic before of the Einstein House but never before have I shown this photo leading up to the beautiful spiral staircase to where Einstein once resided in Bern, Switzerland. I actually love the lighting concept they have used to illuminate the steps.

I'm posting very early because I will be swimming today and the rest of the weekend at the provincial masters champs in Surrey, BC.

I'll keep you posted on the immigration papers but so far, nothing has arrived in the mailbox. More updates to follow but I'm going to be a quieter blogging for a bit, just too busy working!

Decision Made

As you know I haven't had too much faith in my Canadian immigration case. Since I'm getting impatient about my case because of personal issues and needs, I haven't been up for looking at the status of my case.

Well today, I logged into my account and found a big DECISION MADE sign to click on. They updated the news very oddly, stating they had made this decision way back before they told me I got my initial Approval in Principal. So obviously there's a mistake there.

This is what it read.

We sent you a letter on November 28, 2006 to YOUR ADDRESS, British Columbia, Canada, about the decision on your application. If we have sent the letter to the wrong address, please contact us... (please note this is a flat lie and or mistake because we never got this letter!)

So, what's next? I hurry up and wait for about 2 weeks until the letter arrives. Hopefully it was mailed from Vancouver which means I will get it much faster. I'm willing to guess it's telling me to come in for my final immigration interview for landed immigrant.

What else might it mean? We might be able to go to Seattle in May still if I can get my entries in before the deadline. And once I get things finalized, then I can travel again...

Holding onto hope, but not holding my breath yet.

Two Extremes

Last night I was talking with my brother who was nursing a sunburn from his day working outdoors in the sunny valley of California. Think temperatures like Palm Springs. Then switch those thoughts and think Vancouver..

Vancouver felt like the rain was so cold it was going to snow here on the north shore. In fact the snowfall level must be around 700m today. I was looking at Renny's pics yesterday from his outing and was pondering which area was warmer, Oslo or Vancouver. Personally I think the answer was Oslo, especially since it rained most of the weekend in Vancouver..

But I'll look on the positive side. We have been getting touches of blue sky, sun and not constant downpours unlike this winter. We can still go ski in the morning and catch a game of golf in the afteroon. But I'm expecting this weekend to be sunny and beautiful. Enjoy your time outdoors and cheer for me while I'm swimming crazy races for the Masters provincials team indoors..

An Older Mr. Switzerland 2007

I began reading the headlines of the Annual Mister Switzerland contest and began thinking right away of the famous Switzerland commercial ad with sexy men, which was running with the soccer world cup last summer.

I'm sure you remember the ad, but just in case you forgot, I've put it up.

The highlight of the Swiss Info article was the photo which caught the men congratulating Tim Wielandt and messing up his beautiful hair. You'll have to catch the full article yourself here at Swiss info which to me was all so funny and entertaining.

The article mention Mr. Wielandt to have won over the voting public with his charm and humour, presenting himself as a "man in his prime". (Does voting public have the same voting pull and popularity as American Idol, I wonder???)

He's also a student of "interaction design" and works as a web designer. He lives in Meggen, in canton Lucerne in the German-speaking part of Switzerland.

During a film clip he was shown roaming around his neighbours' farm in the company of his favourite cow, Marisa. Doesn't that just remind you of the above clip??

Restaurant Saloniki on Google Earth

When ET and I visited Switzerland in 2005, we spent a few days at her friend Pascal's family home in Lenzburg. He is a very friendly Swiss person who is also fluent in English, which I was very grateful for, as my Swiss-German is non-existent. One evening, we all crossed the border into Germany for some Greek food, and to meet with some friends that knew ET from her previous time spent in Switzerland. They were Hanz-Klaus and his lovely wife (unfortunately I forget her name) who are also Pascal's aunt and uncle. The restaurant is called Saloniki.

We had a wonderful dinner complemented by very entertaining conversations. We were sitting on the restaurants terrace overlooking the beautiful Rhine river.

Today I was exploring Google Earth, which came with my new computer, and I decided to look around Switzerland for fun. I was surprised at how easy I was able to find places I knew. Encouraged, I decided to look for Restaurant Saloniki. It wasn't too hard thanks to ET, because she saved the business card that had the address on it. Isn't she wonderful?

I'm 99.9% sure that the building with the thumb-tack is the restaurant. Hopefully Pascal with visit and confirm!

p.

Hiking at Lac Tannay

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This weeks Photo Hunt Theme is Hobby.

I wanted to look up a list of hobbies according to wikipedia because I was having trouble finding something different than what this blog is about: Photography, travels, all things outdoors and life. I decided to pick a photo from an Outdoor nature activity where we hiked up a large hill up to Lac Tanny, Switzerland. The actual location is basically on the other side of the mountains of Montreux, very close to the French border. The reward from the hike was an incredible view, blue skies and some lunch.

Here's the beautiful hiking trek which is definitely a hobby of mine.

And the view..

If you were to look over those hills, you'd see Montreux and Lake Geneva/Lac Leman.

Happy Friday The 13th

I'm not really superstitious or anything like that, but it's all too funny to me about the name of today. Friday the 13th...

Ironically it's back to normal pouring rain Vancouver weather. However I did manage not to really get rained upon yesterday which was a good thing. I also actually won something from the Safeway sweepstakes. Well I actually am not totally sure as I think it's only 10 air miles... Laughs..

One week until the big swim meet, it's called provincials because it is a competition within the province of BC with other swimmers from areas someone in BC... I guess it would be equivalent to states or cantonal or regional to other members around the world...

A Week Update

This week has flown by me. I've swam and done a few interviews. It's not to say that is over. I'm back for 3 more before the week is over. Combine that with swimming all week, a bit of work, and my sore back that I keep putting off, well I'm busy.

I'm sure most of you are doing the same thing. You might be interested to know it's been predominately sunny all week here in Vancouver...

And the Vancouver Canucks won 5 to 4 in 4 time overtime. What a game. It started around 7pm and ended well after midnight!

One more week until the provincial championships in swimming too..

P and I have also both had freaky odd dreams dealing with someone holding his hand and me someone tapping on my hip to tell me to stop before I turned my flip turn at the swim pool. Odd I tell ya! Anyone else been having odd dreams lately?

Vancouver according to Rick Mercer

Vancouver has a tendency to get voted "Best city to live in" by various publications every once in a while. It is an honour, but it can leave those of us who don't particularly like all the rain and high cost of living a little perplexed.

I thought the following video from "The Rick Mercer Report", a weekly national comedy show, was worth posting here. It is quite hilarious and frankly, so accurate.

p.

Happy Easter

Wishing Everyone a Happy Easter...

Citizenship and Immigration Canada

As most of you guys know, I've had quite a long wait to finally become recognized as a landed immigrant here in Canada. No of course the process is not finished. I'm just waiting and loosing faith in the Canadian immigration system.

For me, CIC seems to be a never ending battle. So here's an update on what Immigration Canada hasn't done. I'm writing this post in hopes that many other countries and people see what is going on with Canada's immigration process.

For many other people who immigrate to other countries, such as Switzerland, being recognized as a landed immigrant takes merely a marriage certificate/ceremony and a few other forms. THAT'S IT! You can get on with your life, find a job and can travel.

This is definitely not the case in Canada. Some 2 years of almost planning our immigration, we are still waiting to see the landing papers. It's not a fun process. I'm wondering if we might make it to our 2 year wedding anniversary before this process is completed!

In fact, there are many horror stories of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) from honest people like myself who is from the US originally. I think the worst, is a 4 year wait time at one of the local immigration offices.

So you can imagine my grief right now as I see more and more people becoming landed immigrants much after the time which I applied. My application was received in Jan 2006!
So why not work on the backlog!!! Backlog people at CIC, backlog!


Can't we just work on making a decision instead of waiting around CIC Vancouver!

A former Washington DC'er who is in the immigration process had a few unique quotes which I totally share in agreement. "The way CIC handled my concern makes it crystal clear that things are not always done in the best interest of the clients to whom they are providing a service for; instead it appears that CIC, at least in this example, does what is in the best interest of themselves."

Which absolutely is leading me to believe this is happening with us. First off, I was denied AIP in September because of a mix up of addresses. Now who in their right minds from people that know us would ASSUMED P and I don't live together???? An immigration officer did when she caught me off guard at work one day not remembering my address... Really remembering 3 addresses can be challenging at times folks! What other mistakes are costing it to take so long?

To make matters worse, I've seen people who applied in Feb, to July already get their landing papers.. What about going in order for your applications? Does the nice guy always have to get screwed? OR better yet, why not concentrate on cases which you know need thorough background checks, so you don't deal with the immigration problems later on? Stop the backlog!

My point is that I've become part of Canadian society, yet I'm still not accepted by CIC. In fact, right now I've had to postpone representing Canada Masters swimming at the US Nationals in Seattle, Washington next month because I can't leave the country. It's said that I can't travel for swimming as a result of a long wait on Citizenship and Immigrations part...

If I actually had an answer why immigration was taking so long to do my background checks, I'd be happier. But a response of yes we are still working on it when CSIS had finished their checks since Jan 2007 and my application was in process since June 2006. Any logical person in a real work environment would be fired for such poor turn around time...

Maybe someone at Citizenship and Immigration Vancouver will read this and see that P and I are actually a genuine couple (married in fact) and that all we want is to have my status changed to landed immigrant. After 1.5 years, is that too much to ask for?

Read this post on The Backlog Problem - Canada Immigration Backlog Not a Priority Despite Statistics Canada Data?

And how Media Attention gets things done - Media Helps to Progress Canadian Immigration Status?

I'm wondering still what has to be done before this situation gets better.

Streets of Solothurn

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This weeks Photo Hunt Theme is Clean.

I thought I'd post some memorable photos of the clean streets of Switzerland.

A side street in Solothurn during the rain

Vitznau in summer. A very clean street.

A New Sudoku Fan

I think I'm becoming addicted to Sudoku. It also helps me to get away from the stress of not finding a job and my taxes... Oh maybe that's called procrastination...

But an interesting discovery about my strengths compared to P's with Sudoku puzzle solving. He's great at spotting missing numbers for solving the puzzle. While for me, I'm great at telling you which number is missing in a row without even blinking. It actually shows some of our own personal strengths, one of which for me is an eye for details.

Time to swim...

More later...

I'm wondering if anyone else is having a lot of trouble with allergies? Mine just started getting severe this week and it's not so pleasant. I've got sinus swelling which unfortunately means I have to medicate to cure this type of symptom.

Famous Vancouver Otters

It appears that Vancouver Aquarium has some new famous movie stars. Check out these cute otters!



This actually happened way back in 2002 but the person with the video just posted it. As well, this is something they do naturally in the wild to stay together during rough tides.

A Vandusen Tour

On Saturday P and I planned an outting to Vandusen Botanical gardens to enjoy the sunny weather, photograph the new spring flowers and do a bit of bird watching. Really it is so amazing what you see when you really stop to notice the little things.

Here's a short photo tour of some of the Vandusen Gardens.

I was surprised to see not too many flowers blooming yet. I'm willing to guess we are a bit behind on the blooming schedule since we had so much rain all winter and well into most of March.

My favorite flower from the visit.

Large pencils? or...


And finally parting shots. ;-)

P was very happy to se some new ducks which we didn't see too often around here. These are two that were doing some very funny spinny with their feet and then would duck down and moon us. It was very entertaining!

Helvetica Celebrates 50 Years

When you think of something that's Swiss, you probably think of the Cuckoo clock, Swiss chocolates and Swiss watches. But another popular and wide spread invention of the Swiss is the Helvetica font, which you are reading right now. It's certainly not something I think of when I think of a popular Swiss invention.

Over the years the font has evolved from the original Swiss Helvetica, to Helvetica New, and Helvetica new light as well as bold versions of these fonts. If you'd like to see a few examples, just check out the street signs in Zurich or on a Microsoft Word document.

Switzerland created the Helvetica font 50 years ago. To mark the anniversary, American filmmaker Gary Hustwit has produced a documentary devoted to the iconic font. The documentary, also entitled Helvetica, includes interviews with designers and the son of the man who created the font.

Helvetica, considered an icon in the 1960s and 1970s, has shaped the urban landscape like no other typeset before. The popular font can be found all over cities from Zurich to Milan, London, Berlin to Tokyo and New York. It can be seen wherever you look, on advertising boards, menus, and street or train signs. I bet it's not something you notice every day!

(my first visit to Switzerland in Jan 2002)

In the 1970s, even such companies as Migros and the Swiss Federal Railways adopted the Helvetica font to boost their corporate identity. When the Helvetica design was first created, it was a font used solely by printers and designers. Today, millions around the world use it.

Helvetica is so popular in Switzerland, especially in Zurich, where you can see it everywhere including train stations to trams and buses, road and shop signs.

Now my challenge to you is to go out there and snap a photo of the Helvetica font!

Yes that is the Helvetica Font!