Easter 2007_Vancouver Trip 274, uploaded by amybaeder.

Tuesday night, after our experience at the aquarium, our drive through the UBC campus and the rich, yacht-club section of town, our adventure to MacLeod’s bookstore, and our relaxing coffee house time, we went to donation-only night at the Vancouver Art Gallery. This is one of the few places I actually remembered visiting when I came here with my family at the age of 16. This time around, Justin and I got there around a quarter to 8, so we didn’t have much time to explore, as they closed at 9 (or, to be precise, more like 8:50). The two exhibits we got to see were “Acting the Part: Photography as Theater” and “House of Oracles: A Huang Yong Ping Retrospective.”

The “Acting the Part” exhibit had some…unusual pieces, as I expect any modern art exhibit to have. One I recognized as a classic, however, was the photograph by Robert Doisneau–Dawn and David have a print of it in their bathroom. It’s called “The Kiss by the Hotel De Ville”–google it. you’ll recognize this one, if not his other one of the sailor returning from war kissing his sweetheart.

Here is a description of the other exhibit from the art gallery’s website: “House of Oracles is the first retrospective of Huang Yong Ping, one of the most influential contemporary Chinese artists working today. Showcasing paintings, drawings and sculptural installations that evoke the fun house, diorama and menagerie, the exhibition celebrates an artist whose work elegantly traverses the divide between East and West, tradition and the avant-garde.

Renowned for his extravagant large-scale installations, the exhibition will feature more than forty works, including a monumental sculpture that positions a snarling tiger atop an elephant, a 100-foot long wooden python skeleton and the re-creation of a Beaux Arts-style bank using 40,000 pounds of sand. In addition to these spectacular installations, the exhibition includes significant early works from the artist’s career, reflecting his interest in ideas on chance, creative process and divination.” What they didn’t mention was the highly controversial “Theater of the World” exhibit underneath the python skeleton. It had live scorpions, millipedes, tarantulas, crickets, and lizards in a turtle-shaped cage/arena. People discuss it as an animal cruelty issue….What do you think?

Easter 2007_Vancouver Trip 427, uploaded by amybaeder.

Some of you may have seen the “Otters Holding Hands” video from youtube, cute overload, or boingboing. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. Seriously cute. Anyway, I got to see these celebrity otters in their element and their squeal-inducing cuteness at the Vancouver Aquarium. Not only are they “holding hands”–they are also chewing on their little paws. Awww!

Easter 2007_Vancouver Trip 295, uploaded by amybaeder.

On Monday after exploring Stanley Park and checking into our hotel, we walked around a bit. We walked down the street north of Pender until we reached Chinatown. Before we got there, we reached a rather sketchy part of town. We didn’t stop to take photos, as stopping could have been a terrible idea. All the buildings were closed–the gates guarding the entryways to buildings were chained up. The few people milling about begged for money, stumbled about, or licked their fingers before putting them on the ground to pick up marijuana seeds (a popular commodity in Vancouver). I felt like I was in a post-apocalyptic movie, perhaps 28 days later or Children of Men. Before we reached Chinatown, we walked through a mall in search of food or a movie worth seeing. Most of the mall’s vendors had pulled out, leaving empty “mall lots” or furniture covered in white cloth inside the former stores. We decided to take a few photos near Chinatown, which equally deserted and eerie (yet colorful), then make our way back for some dinner at the Hotel Kingston.

Easter 2007_Vancouver Trip 386, uploaded by amybaeder.

One of the perks of our admission price to the aquarium was getting to see their four beluga whales being trained. We sat outside in the sun with our meals (cream of asparagus soup in a sourdough bread bowl for me!) while we waited for the show to start. I love how the whales always seem to be smiling.

Easter 2007_Vancouver Trip 477, uploaded by amybaeder.

On Tuesday, Justin and I ventured to the Vancouver Aquarium at Stanley Park. Though it cost about $50 Canadian dollars to visit (if you include parking and lunch prices), it was worthwhile. I really enjoyed the jellyfish exhibit, mainly because the lighting helped show the vibrant colors of these creatures. The orange-red and blue hues of this exhibit happen to be my favorite colors.

Easter 2007_Vancouver Trip 212, uploaded by amybaeder.

Our first stop after our hotel in Vancouver was Stanley Park, a huge city park for hikers, bikers, roller-bladers, tourists, Sunday drivers, and, apparently, raccoons. This little guy was the least-wild component of wildlife I’ve ever seen. He climbed right over the fence at Stanley Park onto the stairs. He’s not nocturnal anymore, and he’s somehow lost an eye. He was traveling with a buddy whose photo is on flickr, too. After visiting the raccoons, we spent a couple of hours on the trails and driving about. Recently, the park suffered major damage from the windstorms–it lost over 10,000 trees in December, which will take a large sum of cash and several years to fix.

We’re heading out the door for our mini-vacation to Vancouver. Now that I’ve gotten rid of my headache (through 12 hours of sleep, some breakfast, my migraine medication, and an impromptu visit to the chiropractor) and that I’ve done laundry, we can go.

Here’s to Canadian dollars, cheaper hotels, evergreen forests, great Asian food, and hopefully, science world and its chocolate exhibit. More to come.

Although I am tired from our late-night Lowe’s trip, Safeway run, and video stop….
Even though I stayed up late to make a vanilla pudding-layered fruit salad and biscuits and gravy (not sure why I did)…..
Despite the fact that I ignored my bedtime to work on the Easter homily and got distracted by an online art encyclopedia for several hours….

this morning is a sunny, glorious Easter morning. The birds seem to be chirping the news that “Christ is Risen! Alleluia!”

Today we will celebrate at Daniel’s with feasting and rejoicing. I’m taking a ham, baked beans, and the fruit salad I made last night.

This afternoon I must:
–pack for tomorrow’s trip to Vancouver
–deposit checks in bank
–do laundry
–exercise
–finish knitting hat (almost done!)
–take shirt back to old navy
–work in garden
–clean out car (wash and vacuum)

This is brilliant, especially if I lived in SoCal or someplace where I could wear sandals for more months out of the year. This woman started a business where you can wear a new pair of shoes every day! They’re like swatch watches for your feet. You buy the soles, which come with three interchangeable ribbons. Depending on the occasion, the color of your outfit, or whatever it is that people base shoe choice on, you re-lace (or re-ribbon, in this case) the sandals and you have a different pair of shoes. Some of the color and style choices of the ribbons shown in the gallery are questionable, but the fact that you can tie them in different ways, choose different fabrics, widths, textures, and colors of ribbons makes this exciting…but not for me, as each sole costs $185. Maybe I could justify this when I become a wealthy teacher and move to the tropics, as all wealthy teachers do.

There are some days that, with the sun shining on you in all of its warm, Spring-Break goodness and the Friday freedom settling in, make one dream. The possibilities seem endless. The future seems hopeful. I get restless. I reflect, dream, wish, think, and feel both optimistic and dissatisfied. These days make me wonder whether I am doing what I should be doing. They make me wonder why I watch so many movies and grade so many papers. They make me think about health, spirituality, literacy, creativity, beauty, truth, and justice. They make me want to DO SOMETHING. They make me think that anything is possible. This is one of those days….which leads me to my next point….

Tonight Justin and I saw “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” a play written about the young American woman who lived in Palestine for a few months to help stop the violence there. Although there is much more to this story than the play had time (and intentions) to get to, I was moved by this young lady’s intelligence, joie de vivre, passion, and conviction as portrayed by this play. The play was based off of her letters, e-mails, and journals, so it truly captured her voice, which moved me to want to act.

How does one take action in such a messed-up world? What passion can I pursue? What can I devote my life to that will truly make a difference in the lives of others? I feel like there is a secret menu somewhere with a list of world issues that well-off Americans can peruse, select the issue-of-the day, and comfortably try to make a change with the change left over from their cupholders. What can I really do? I feel like we take the easy way out when we say, “Oh, you ARE making a difference. Think about how many lives you impact each day…yadda yadda yadda.” I don’t feel like we can afford to do that. I want to concentrate my efforts–make them potent, passionate, and intense. I want to see the effects of my actions. Perhaps it is water that is provided for a village. Perhaps the malnourished bodies of infants become plump and healthy again. Perhaps I save a species, eradicate an illness in a village, rebuild a demolished city, help fight global warming, stop child soldier recruitment, or preserve a section of the rainforest. Am I naive to think I could make this much of a difference? What kind of a world would we live in if each one of us had a “pet” issue that we fought for throughout our lives? Most Americans can afford to do this, both time-wise and wealth-wise, but we don’t, and why not? Are we too afraid of what will happen if other countries don’t need aid anymore? Will helping other people threaten our superpower status? Do we just forget what our neighbors in other countries are going through? Do we find it too troubling to think about?

I am feeling incredibly un-incredible right now because I am thinking about how different–how much more passionate and creative–I could be. I am both energized and disheartened by this thought.