happylife

An exchange lesson

I'm now taking so called an exchange lesson with my friend in my pilot school. He teaches me English and I teach him Japanese instead. He is a Canadian student pilot with the flight test near at hand. So, he can tell me not only about English but also all about aviation. Plus, he is also trying to take an ATC [Air Traffic Controller] exam. This is a golden opportunity for me because I can simulate the aviation radio communications with a future ATC guy for free! On the other hand, I'm teaching him basic Japanese like how to write Hiragana, how to do daily conversations, and so on. I think this exchange lesson with him is very successful for both of us.

An illusion

I reported on my blog three days ago about a super luxurious yacht staying in English Bay. I said it was around 200 feet and its accompanying sail boat as 40 feet. I made a mistake. Today I sailed close to the yacht, read the boat name, and googled [to look up Google] the name. The ship is 371 feet long and the sail boat is 70 feet, almost double of my estimation! It is really an optical illusion. In this picture, you can see how huge they are. The front most, yellowish sail boat is in normal size, that is about 30 feet. The blue sail boat is twice as long as the yellow one, and the main ship is about five times as long as the blue one. The ship name is "Le Grand Bleu." A Russian, young, oil tycoon owns it. He has sailed to Monaco to watch Monaco GP and invited Naomi Campbell to his on-board party. Umm, just a little bit more gorgeous than I.

First solo!

Today, I took one step closer to becoming a private pilot. I completed my first solo flight this afternoon; I flew Cessna152 alone, without an instructor, going around the airport three times with two touch-and-goes and one full-stop landing. All of them were successful and after my last landing, the tower controller said to me "Congratulations!" I was very pleased and got to like him for the first time. He was the man who had been always annoying me with too quick radio communications. After getting off the airplane, I was watered by my instructors because It is a custom in Canada or North America to celebrate the student pilots who just finished their first solo. First solo is so big event for every pilot.

Capilano Suspension Bridge

Last weekend I visited this famous sightseeing point in North Vancouver called Capilano Suspension Bridge with my friend. It is located in 20 minute drive distance from Downtown. This bridge, hanging across a steep valley, always waves and shakes when pedestrians walk across on it. As the both sides of this bridge is covered with net, it isn't so scaring and only small children sometimes cry. It was fine Saturday and there were quite a few visitors coming and going through the bridge, and some of them stopping on the way to take pictures. I just worried about how much weight is acceptable for the bridge. Without any controlling staff, with quite a few passengers, and if it was overloaded, a terrible accident might happen. Am I alarmist?

A super luxurious yacht

A yacht often means a small sailing boat in Japanese, but in English, it indicates a large, luxurious, personal owned boat equipped for cruising. This yacht in English meaning, has been staying in English Bay for weeks. I went sailing on my yacht (in Japanese meaning) and got closed to this luxurious yacht. It is around 200 feet in length and is equipped with several antennas for radars, GPS, and so on. As you can see in this picture, it has a crane to carry another yacht which means 40 foot sail boat now and another luxurious power boat too. Furthermore, it has a heliport! As I haven't seen the inside of this yacht, I don't know how much it is but it must be over 25 million dollars.

Paradise?

On the way of my favorite cycling course, this lake lies quietly. It is a small lake called Beaver Lake and its surface is covered with numerous lotus leaves. Several ducks are swimming, eating, and resting. I often stop at a bench on the lakeside and take a rest sitting or lying on it. Squirrels sometime come to me expecting something to eat. In Buddhism, the paradise is described just like this; birds are singing on the pond covered with lotus leaves on which Buddha is sitting and meditating. I think this place is literally a paradise except that I'm not Buddha.

4WAY STOP

We often see this traffic sign while driving in Vancouver or the western part of North America. It is a special traffic rule which we don't have in Japan. When we see this sign in our cars, we have to stop a while, checking other traffics on our left, right, and ahead. If we have another traffic which has stopped before you, that traffic has the right of way. We have to yield. If we had another traffic and it has just stopped at the same time with us, the right traffic has the right of way. I don't know what to do if four traffics from different directions arrived an intersection at the same time. And if we had pedestrians who have the highest priority, it becomes more confusing. I think this 4way stop rule works only when we have few traffics. As you know in Vancouver, the number of cars is increasing year by year and this special rule is getting ineffective.

BLENZ

BLENZ is a coffee shop brand made in Canada. It is as popular as STARBUCKS here. We can see either or both of them in every block in Downtown and people are enjoying coffee and chatting in those cafes. I prefer BLENZ to STARBUCKS because I prefer Canada to U.S. In the cafe, tens of tables and a few sofas are located, or I would say, scattered in a spacious room. I usually occupy the sofa and use my notebook PC sipping a cup of coffee. Fortunately I can often use the Internet with free wireless connections at most of BLENZ while at most of STARBUCKS I can't. This is another reason why I prefer BLENZ.

A bench in a forest

How do you like this bench? It seems funky, cozy, and attractive, doesn't it? I found it in Cappilano forest in North Vancouver. Taking a nap on this bench listening to birds singing should be happy. But the problem is that it is located at the center of very popular tourist point and quite a few visitors are passing beside it. If I had a small forest in a future, it is a good idea to make my own bench like this. Just dreaming such a thing makes me happy. Anyway, this old man seems to have made this bench, however, he is just a passenger.

French

As you know, the official language in Canada is English and French. At least in Vancouver, few people speak French. I think Chinese is much more popular. French is as rare as Japanese or Korean in Vancouver. But we can see it in public documents like sign boards, government documents, and direction of medicines. In those documents, English and French which mean same things are put in together. So we can guess what the French sentences mean by reading the English part. Although I can't read French at all, I like to read French sign boards. It is like Rosetta stone.