Wednesday May 12, 2010

Experiencing Vancouver
Wednesday began with an early (at least it felt early for us) breakfast at 8 AM. After eating, we all headed back into the A-frame/lobby section of our housing for orientation with Kelly, his wife Jeanne, and Sean, another church planter in Vancouver. The morning was filled with useful information for living in the city ranging from cheapest food choices to travel to things to do on our free Saturdays. We also went over our schedule for the next month and what we hope to achieve.
Kelly, Jeanne, and Sean all informed us of the diversity of Vancouver. According to Kelly, Vancouver is “multiculturalism on steroids.” We had yet to experience it, but it wouldn’t be long.
After eating a sack lunch (our lunchtime meals for the next month), most of the group headed to the bus stop to begin a day of travel around Vancouver. They were to take the bus to the SkyTrain station, board the Seabus, and then hop on another bus to the Canadian National Baptist Convention Office for a Prayer walking informational meeting with Glenna Heidt, the CNBC National Prayer Coordinator.
However, I traveled with Kelly, Dr. Hufty, and Seth to Wal-Mart to purchase track phones for the five team leaders to enable us to communicate with each other and Kelly during our stay. We were able to visit with Kelly and ask many questions as he drove across Greater Vancouver including Surrey, New Westminster, Vancouver, and North Vancouver. After Wal-Mart, we also traveled to the CNBC Office and awaited the arrival of the rest of the group. When the whole group arrived, Glenna began our second round of orientation for the day.
Once finished, we walked down the street to the bus stop and boarded the bus bound for Lonsdale Quay (pronounced key) for supper and a bit of shopping. The bus ride and the Quay were my first real introductions, other than Wal-Mart, to the diversity of Vancouver. Kelly wasn’t kidding when he said, “Welcome to becoming one of the minorities.”
At 7 PM and after a Greek supper of a Souvlak Pita and taking a large amount of pictures, we boarded the Seabus, a ferry, to begin our voyage back to PLBC. After the Seabus, we boarded the SkyTrain, which I would say is an equivalent to the El in Chicago. All of this again showed me more of the diversity of the city of which I had been told.
I know it’s hard to picture what I’m speaking of, so here are some numbers. In the Christian school connected with PLBC here in Surrey, there are 90 different languages spoken of only approximately 250 kids, grades k-12. In Vancouver, 64% speak a mother tongue besides English and you can choose to educate your child in one of five languages including English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Punjabi. Over 50% of the worship in the churches here are in a different language.
In Canada, it is said that the people know who they are not, but they don’t know who they are. Canada doesn’t want to be a melting pot like the USA. Instead, they want to be known as a mosaic where everyone is free to be their own, speak their own language, and live as they want culturally. Let me tell you, that’s what they do. It isn’t uncommon to hardly hear English other than our own while in transit. It’s an amazing place, this city. Even if I never saw a “Welcome to Vancouver” sign, I know that I have not only been submerged in the city, but also embraced by it as well.