Vancouver cont.

Here are more observations (from the complimentary wifi at the airport!):

-smoking and swearing seems to be much more common
-i saw what looked to be a 13 year old boy smoking a cigar...odd
-it is a casual city. lots of people were walking about in athletic clothes...that is my kind of city!
-an international conference brings a lot of styles. i.e. some people find "booty pants" appropriate for a conference. don't forget the solid coral suit.
-there was another conference in another area and i saw a real Tibetan monk. i wanted to go to that conference!
-it is a very walkable city....as you might know, i LOVE that!
-the mountains and the ocean meet. beautiful!
-everyone seems to be drinking coffee all the time.
-HIGH cost of living
-quite a few homeless

i have 2 stories about the homeless. i really wanted to take a picture of one homeless person. have you heard of the show on TLC called Hoarders? I haven't ever seen it, but if there was a homeless version of that show, this man would qualify. 2 massively loaded down carts followed him everywhere....very interesting.

the second story is about the homeless person that i saw everywhere! the first interaction, i was right outside a Tim Horton's so i offered to buy him something to eat instead of giving him money. (that is my preferred route of helping people). he hesitated (not a good sign) and then agreed. the Tim Horton's people obviously knew him and he obviously has been a big problem. long story short, i decide to cancel my order because i feel like i'm causing more problems (and he is now getting donations from everyone in line). i saw him a couple times that day. yesterday i was eating outside in another part of town and there he is...came up to me again. this morning...who do i see? it was pretty odd!

by the way, Niger was actually brought up in the conference. they were talking about the rate of cancer diagnosis in developing countries sky-rocketing over the next few years. the speaker said, "and i'm not even taking into account Niger and other countries that have no form of health care system and severe poverty".

crazy. sobering.