Living the Tuff Life

I've been in Tofino just over a month now and every day I wake up with a smile on my face.  That's not to say there haven't been tough times, especially when I first got here, but generally I'm consumed with happiness and humility.  I still can't believe that everyday I go to work and get to look out at the waves crashing into Cox Bay and when the sun breaks through the clouds and shines onto the shore, the whitewash practically glows.  I get to spend the day talking to people who are relaxed and gracious, people who are genuinely interested in where you came from and how you got to be so lucky to live in such a place.  When I first told people that I was moving to Tofino, many of them expressed envy and sheepishly admitted they always dreamed of doing the same.  Anytime I suggested that they do it, they all gave me paltry excuses, as if living here is a privilege for a chosen few.  A couple days ago my brother said in passing, "I should have just moved here straight out of high school" and I can't help but echo his sentiment; I wish I knew about the Tofino life years ago; I wish I took his advice to come out years ago or listened to my mom when she suggested I spend the summer working at a resort.  I never headed this advice because I didn't want to leave my friends or rather, step out of my comfort zone.  I know now that when you jump head first into the unknown amazing things can happen and I'm not alone in my thinking.  People here live life to the fullest, they don't stress about money or having expensive things, they don't care about climbing the corporate ladder, they travel and see the world but always find themselves back in Tofino, because Tofitians get it, they feel it too...

I love all the colours from the vibrant emerald green foliage, to the brilliant azure sky and the cerulean waves.  I love that I'm surrounded by trees so tall I feel nearly smothered by their grandeur.  I love walking through Vinyl Village and smelling the scent of sun-soaked cedar (admittedly, I also enjoy the tantalizing scents constantly wafting from Tacofino).  There are so many things that I love but there are couple that I don't.  The first being: Shit is expensive!  Food is expensive, liquor is expensive, clothing is expensive.  There's no doubt in my mind that the price is worth paying to live in this incredible place, but it all adds up and I can't imagine trying to get by when fall and winter comes and the tourism industry screeches to a halt.  Apparently many juggle multiple jobs in the slower months in order to get by.
Another thing I don't love: there is no such thing as a good internet connection.  It's hit or miss regardless of where you are or what company you're with.  Downloading is excruciating; streaming is next to impossible and results in bandwidth overages which result in ridiculous bills (guess this is goodbye for now Netflix).  This is, in fact, a blessing in disguise as there is a plethora of amazing outdoor activities that make watching television shows seem downright blasphemous.  That being said on a hungover afternoon during a particularly rainy day I just want to lay in bed and indulge in House of Cards, is that so wrong?  There are ways of combating this issue.  There are many DVDs in constant circulation, there is a movie rental store with a good selection, and if you complain enough, people will usually be kind enough to take your USB and load it up with their own downloaded treasures (whether these exist from a time before life in Tofino or resulted out of extreme patience, I'm still not sure.)

A couple other things I've noticed:

Surf culture  
Sure I expected most people to surf, but I didn't realize that out here it's a lifestyle rather than a hobby.  This became glaringly obvious when I first arrived at a staff accom littered with wetsuits, full of boards, plastered with surf photos and stocked to the brim with surf videos and magazines.  One of the first questions asked out here is, "Do you surf?" answer yes and it propels you into an entire conversation regarding the best spots, surfers, wind conditions, tides, waves, types of boards, brands of wetsuits, etc.  Answer no or not really and the next question is usually "Are you planning to learn?"  When I originally envisioned myself living in Tofino I thought I'd go out surfing on a few occasions throughout the summer and on the day of my first lesson I was nervous and hesitant, but within 5 minutes in the water I was hooked.  I so badly want to learn, because I want to be a part of it, a part of something bigger, it's not something that one can easily explain.

Tofino Time  
People here are laid back.  They stop their cars in the middle of the street to chat with a friend, or stop what they're doing at work to catch up with an old acquaintance.  Therefore running on "Tofino Time" is a real thing.  It's not a matter of inconsideration or rudeness, people just do what feels right at the time.  For example, maybe someone said they would attend your party, but the waves were so good and they were in the midst of such an awesome surf they just couldn't stop.  By the time they finally got out of the water, biked home, and rinsed out their suit they were starving and decided to make some dinner.  Then, their roommate had rented a movie and they sat down and began watching it and just never made it back up again.  Rather than text you the entire explanation, they just won't show.  You shouldn't take it personally, because plans change and people just go with the flow.  Besides, you probably wouldn't have had cell phone service anyway.

image from GoTofino.com

Calgary is Under Water - My Flood Experience

Update

As I am currently writing this it is Tuesday, June  25 at 8:57 pm and we have still not yet been cleared to return to our neighbourhood.  Graydon stopped by the apartment today and we still have no power or gas.  It's especially frustrating since our street experienced no flooding whatsoever but I guess we share an electrical grid with some of the devastated areas.  We heard a rumour that we may be able to return home tomorrow, but now it seems it has been pushed until at least Thursday night.  Traffic has been phenomenally bad as many major routes and bridges are still closed, so my normally 15 minute commute now takes over an hour.  Despite it all we remain hopeful and when I see how Calgarians are working together to clean up the city I feel a deep sense of pride to call this city my home.  From the thousands of volunteers to the countless business owners who are donating their time and services to clean up the city it's an amazing site to see.  A huge thanks to all the fire-fighters, police officers and city workers for their tireless efforts and to Mayor Naheed Nenshi for the constantly updating his citizens and even responding to tweets from individuals in the city.  Will be updating again soon when we receive any update.

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It was Thursday afternoon when I first became aware of the impending destruction.  I had heard Calgary was under a heavy rainfall warning and that some flooding was expected.  I was also aware that some homes had begun to experience flooding, as several people called into my work in an effort to report insurance claims.

On my way home I listened to the local radio DJ announce that several areas, including Mission were under mandatory evacuation orders and expected to remain that way for up to 72 hours.  I was troubled by this news as we are only a few blocks away from Mission, but felt fairly confident that we would be unaffected as we're located uphill and far back from the river.  As I crossed the bridge over the Elbow, I couldn't help but shudder as I gazed down at the surging body of water.

Before heading to bed at around 10:30, Graydon and I checked the evacuation updates and found that Victoria Park was being evacuated, but our apartment fell just outside of the area indicated by a red square on the posted map.  The two of us drifted off into an uneasy sleep with the sound of multiple sirens looming in the background.

At about 3:30 am Graydon woke up with a start and peered out the window anxiously.
"What's going on?" I asked.  "What time is it?"
Graydon explained that he had just seen the text message our landlord had sent around 1:00 am and stating that we needed to evacuate.  I groped for my iPhone, a quick Google search confirmed my fear: Beltline has been added to the list of evacuated communities.  Amongst the search results was a chilling message from Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi urging those in evacuated areas to pack some belongings and leave immediately.  The neighbourhood was eerily silent save for the noises emitted from those fleeing their homes and rushing into waiting cars.  The long, piercing screech of a whistle echoed down the block as cops did anything they could to wake up residents.  Across the street, a man in a reflective vest was ringing buzzers and urging people to leave.  Lights glowed from the adjacent apartment as people, like ourselves, fearfully peered out their windows or rushed about, trying to gather their belongings.

For a while the two of us struggled to make a decision.  On top of being half asleep, totally groggy, and absolutely confused, we really had no idea where to go.  We didn't want to have to wake up any friends or family and had no interest in spending the rest of the night in a shelter.  We contemplated just staying put until morning, after all we had missed the evacuation notice by nearly four hours, the situation couldn't possibly get any worse right?  We gazed out the window once more; the streets were completely dry and no rain was falling.  Since there was no way we would ever get back to sleep, we finally decided we might as well go.  We resolved to go to the Macleod Denny's, as it's on high ground, away from the river, and near my work, allowing me to avoid the inevitable morning traffic caused by the multiple road and bridge closures.  I threw some random clothes and toiletries haphazardly into a suitcase and headed out.

I will forever be grateful that we chose to leave when we did, because we got not even two blocks away and were met by washed out roads, and parked cars up to their windshields in flood water.  We finally managed to get out of downtown and arrive at our destination to join the other evacuees devouring Grand Slam breakfasts and discussing their various experiences.  By around 7:00 am we were sitting in my work parking lot and listening to updates on the radio.  I received a frantic text from my manager enquiring about my safety.  I spoke to my boss and recounted my night.  She told me that they were hoping to remain open (being an insurance agency and all), but she wasn't sure how many brokers would be able to make it in.  She gave me the option of leaving with Graydon, if it made me more comfortable.  As guilty as I felt leaving them for what was without a doubt going to be an insanely busy day, my fear of worsening conditions, more road closures, Graydon not being able to return to pick me up and being stranded with nothing and no where to go made me extremely distressed.

Thank goodness I chose to take her offer, because what should have been a 25 minute drive to Aris' took upwards of 4 hours.  The traffic on Glenmore was crawling and people struggling to get to work or to safety were desperately driving across meridians and sidewalks trying to escape the crawl.  When we finally made it to the bridge we were told by an exhausted looking police officer that the only bridge in operation was the Centre Street bridge and we were going to have to try and make our way back downtown in order to cross it.  We finally inched across the bridge along with the hundreds of people who had come down to the river to take photos and videos or to just catch a glimpse of the raging waters below.  

Once we were safe and sound at Aris and Jenna's, we followed the news updates and saw the terrifying images of downtown Calgary completely submerged in water.  After a quick investment in some sturdy gumboots, we headed down to the Bow River to witness the destruction first hand.  The enlarged river had overtaken the surrounding homes and continued to grow. We watched in horror as the violent waters ripped trees from the ground, dragging them into it's depths. 

~~~

Today we woke up to bright sunshine and it seemed like any and all troubles were a lifetime away.  We heard word that the Bow is expected to decrease up to 25% while the Elbow could decrease by as much as 60%.  We also heard that it may be as far as mid week before downtown will fully be accessible.  Graydon had an event he had to attend, so he vowed to try and stop by the apartment to grab us some more clothes and some of the other items we had forgotten in our haste to leave.  He texted me to say that our street is no longer flooded and he was able to get into our apartment, but that the power is still out.  As of right now we are hopeful that we will be able to return to our home by Sunday night, maybe Monday at the latest.

Right now I am optimistic that the worst of the devastation is behind us and my thoughts and prayers go out to all of those effective in High River and Canmore, two areas that have experienced huge loss.  I also believe Calgarians will band together and clean up the city just in time for the Stampede which is supposed to start in a mere couple weeks.  I will be sure to post any updates I hear as they become available.  Check out some of the incredible footage below.   

You can click here to donate to victims of the flood.

Living in Cow Town

Hey all, sorry for the lack of posts lately, I have been super busy trying to get all settled in, but now that I am employed and sheltered you can expect a new blog post every Monday, so be sure to check back.  This week I'm sharing some of my newfound Calgarian wisdom, enjoy!  ~ Francesca

Some truths I've learned about living in Calgary:

There are real highways here!!!  (With real dick drivers)
When I say real highways, I mean a road with more than two lanes, with a speed limit of 110/km, with exit ramps.  Not the ridiculous excuses we have for highways on the island, where the speed limit fluctuates from 70 to 90 and involves stopping at traffic lights every five minutes, I mean real, bonafide highways.  Unfortunately with real highways, comes real highway drivers and I am sorry to say that most of them are dicks.  They pull the typical dick moves: tail gating, trying to pass on the shoulder, cutting people off out of no where.  Every day that I had to drive down Deerfoot Trail in rush hour traffic my hands would be clammy with anxiety and I felt as if I just lost a few minutes off my life.  I'm already a super nervous driver so this was no easy task for me, add the fact that I still have BC plates giving people all the more excuse to curse me out as I awkwardly tried to merge.  The traffic is bad as is, but every day myself and the other commuter would have to deal with at least one major accident, adding to the already heavy road congestion and my inevitable fear.  And when I say major accident I mean at least three cars involves, maybe one flipped over, perhaps even the jaws of life.  On top of that, I spend a good part of my work day entering claims information so it just adds to my worry.  I can't tell you how happy I am to live downtown and be able to walk most places, plus when I drive to work I'm going against the traffic so it's a lot less stressful.

The first result after googling "Calgary Crashes"

... enough said.

Everything in Calgary is (usually) a shade of beige:
Okay, that's not really fair, as we are getting into summer weather the city is becoming very green and luscious, but when I first moved here it was a huge shock to me, especially being use to seeing the contrast of the greens of the different trees, the brown of the mountains and blues of the ocean.  Even the river water looks a little brown to me.

Now that foliage is blooming, I feel more at home.  In fact, in a couple weeks the Lilac Festival will be taking place right next door to us and I can look forward to my street looking like this:

At least until winter when it's back to beige.

It's dry, like, really dry:
This is one that everyone warned me about when I first said I was moving to Calgary.  Every single person stated, "Oh, Calgary.  It's really dry there."  My response was always along the lines of "Yeah, whatever, it will be a welcome change from constant dampness," but as soon as I got here I noticed it immediately.  To the point where if I had my window open, my throat would get so scratchy and I couldn't swallow.  My skin is having the worst time trying to adjust, my hands and lips bleed and my elbows get all bumpy, I am trying to make an effort to moisturize every day, but if I forget even once, it becomes very apparent.  Even my hair is frizzier (if you can believe that's possible).

It's just as dusty:

Trying to keep my white car clean is an effort in futility, I can scrub Daisy till it gleams, but by the next day she'll be back to her state of dust covered glory.  Same goes for my windows and patio furniture.  If I don't wear my sunnies when I walk outside, I can look forward to a gust throwing some dust in my eyes. I guess I must just accept that everything in my life will forever be in a perpetual state of dustiness. 

All the houses look the same:

One thing I really notice when I first got out here is because of the growing population, huge suburbs are constantly being developed.  And because developers want to make money, there is no creativity involved.  The new neighbourhoods consist of the same three houses, over and over again, in the same three colours (surprise surprise, usually a shade of beige!)  Whereas on the island you can walk down a residential street and expect to see a mix of old and new houses, different styles, colours.

It didn't help my suburban confusion that all the roads are variations of the same name!  Jason and Candice live on Pantego Terrace, in their neighborhood their is also Pantego Place, Pantego Close, Pantego Road, Pantego Street, Pantego Circle, Pantego Blvd, etc, etc.  When they ran out of Pantego names, they turned to the slightly different, but not at all names of Pantello, and Panorama.  All I can say is, thank God for GPS... oh wait, except that my GPS didn't recognize most of the newer developments.  Needless to say, I didn't venture out much when I first got here.  

I wish I could say this is was doctored.

The rental market is fierce:

I really didn't think I would have trouble finding a place to rent: I have great references (including my cousin who is an RCMP sergeant in town); I have a winning smile and kind eyes; and I could always find lots of good listings on Rent Faster.  Wow, was I ever wrong!  I don't know if it's always this way in Calgary, or just cause it's spring or what, but if you didn't call the landlord the day he posted the listing you could consider it rented.  Most listers would turn off their phone the first day after the 100+ phone calls rolled in, and good luck leaving a voicemail, they were always full.  The few viewings I was able to schedule, were myself and at least 10 others being shown the unit at the same time.  No one would say no to an application, everyone would suck up to the landlord, no one wanted to rent to me because I had been at my job for 3 days and had a mysterious absentee common law partner who still lived in BC.  The applications I filled out asked for everything from social insurance numbers, rental references, work references, personal reference and a bank contact.  At the last viewing I went to before finding this place, the landlord made us write an essay on why he should rent to us, AND tried to get a bidding war started by telling us to indicate if we were willing to pay above the listed rental amount and let me tell you, the apartment was ghetto and already over priced.  While I was filling out the application there were about 8 people doing the same, and others constantly coming and going.  The guy beside seemed to keep forgetting to breathe and would suddenly gasp and wheeze, all while talking to himself... probably one of the worst ways to spend a hungover Sunday. Of course, Graydon gets into town at the beginning of May, the first landlord he calls gets us in for a showing the same day and offers us the place 5 minutes later (with an immediate move in date).  It was bizarre... he said he had bought the apartment while there was already a renter, so he had no idea how to be a landlord.  He didn't even have applications for us to fill out or ask us for references.  Graydon now is certain that I am a useless house hunter, or put no effort into my search.  I think he's freakishly lucky.

Everything is cowboy or horse themed:

I get that Stampede is a huge deal here, heck I've been to Stampede a few times so I thought I knew what it was all about.  What I didn't realize is that Calgarians live for Stampede.  Everything is horse themed.  Even in my office, not even close to the grounds, there are horse murals, statues, framed Stampede posters from years past.  This confuses me greatly since I haven't seen any real horses yet, and only a handful of cowboys.  Even the cop uniforms are cowboy themed:

They wear these hats year round folks

That's my little rant, hope you enjoyed! To all my newly Calgarian friends: what are some of the differences you noticed when you first moved here?

Be sure to check back next Monday for a new post.