HIP TO BE SQUARE! Right on! We are having cooler temperatures on the first and probably second week of Summer while the rest of the world are suffering from heatwave and heat dome. We are still fortunate here in Canada especially in British Columbia. because this morning the weather temp. is only 12 to 14 Celsius only then it went up to 18 C at past 1:00 pm. Cloudy day. On JULY FIRST CANADA DAY provinces that were suffering from heatwave received thunderstorms and heavy downpour. It was such a lucky day alright for the people in Ottawa & Ontario.
Heatwave & heat dome are not good most especially for those elderly living in skyhigh condo and those houses with poor ventilation. The first heat dome in BC had hundreds of people died of exhaustion. Would you believe? How hot weather temperature can cause death? Did you hear of hundreds of people dying because of cold? The answer is big NO except of course one or two homeless who were left stranded outside on the cold, snowy grounds or doesn't like going inside the shelter for the homeless.
NEWS STORY of AIRBNB that rented their homes for those foreigners during the World Cup would probably go back now to their respective homes. So many pop-ups eh? There is no problem with renting your homes as AIRBNB especially in Vancouver Area where there is not enough hotels, motels and places to stay for the World Cup that attracted millions of tourists.To think that the stadium/arena was being used by the local team for Football and they have to use the Kelowna stadium for their game. No one should be a stranger in their own country unless you let yourself be the stranger.
In my 34 years in Canada, I don't really feel the stranger here. I don't know why.Maybe I know of their HISTORY better than them. CANADA feels like its really my HOME because of my FAMILY, My Husband, my Children who were naturally born here, from its cool weather, to the kind of people I am surrounded with. I feel more alienated when I returned to Philippines in 2005. I think the people changed over there for some reasons. Sorry about that. It's not about you, it is about me. I should not write the details of some situations that made me feel upset and I just felt Philippines is different from when I was there way back the 60's 70's, 80's. Some of my friends and classmates and neighbors had passed away. Actually 3 of them just are my neighbors in the same street where we played sipa, inch, tumbang baka, riding bikes in our childhood to elementary years. They were my classmates in High School. We used to go to school at the same time by walking from our home to the school FABC for about 15-20 minutes then back from school to homes for 4 years. Several years passed by ... Then they were gone. R.I. P. 🙏🙏🙏
I was not alienated when I was in prince Rupert population only 9,000 in the 90's. Husband have many friends trusted and true. Mike & Iris most especially. Mike was my husband's assistant (he appointed him when he was promoted as Manager at the Stevedoring Company, he is Ukrainian-Canadian). Mike's fiancee beautiful, smart Iris (she's high above me, almost 6 ft tall, German-Canadian) became my best friend through thick and thin always there whenever I need her to go shopping here and there. She worked in a private company, then quit her job and worked for the government later and we opened and managed a janitorial services. She likes shopping too but her taste is very expensive. She likes shopping at Parker's boutique and everything there too costly and sometimes her favourite shopping catalogue was Victoria's Secret. Me? I shopped economically at Zellers, SEARS, and I only purchased one black elegant dress from Parker's which cost me $ 650. OMG! Wala bang hanggling dito? You know me love to haggle when the price is too much. don't feel like embarrassing my friend. At Zellers, SAAN, REITMAN'S there where I usually met some Filipinos or group of them browsing at the mall with an escalator. The only building with escalators. I know. Philippines have escalators and elevators way back the 60's. I found Prince Rupert backwards from the 60's in the 90's. MANILA & MAKATI was already a sub-urban metropolis with too many skyscrapers. And don't get me wrong because Prince Rupert with only few people, population of only 9,000 and its more like rural area, fishing industry thrives, there was a cannery where multitudes of Asian men and women are working there and their wages are would you believe $17/hour? That's right! They were gutting and cleaning salmons in a very cold plant. But 17 dollars per hour was so great! A friend of mine Ate Chit worked there and happy to work instead of just staying at home while her husband worked for the pulp mills. On days off she visits me and we go swimming at the local swimming pool. I like her she taught me so many lessons and advice me about so many things living in Canada. She was once a GP or doctor in the Philippines. I met other Filipinos within the Filipino community some are very friendly, some are too snobby and they speak a different dialect (Visayan). There is one Filipina who was selling Filipino stuff from sinigang broth, palabok sauce in packages, Magnolia ice cream, Goldilocks pastry, etc. etc. There are parties at my husband's place of work and the first Christmas Party was held in Cowbay's Cafe/Restaurant which were attended by the whole staff and longshoremen and their families. The Filipino-Canadian Party was held in the Community Center because of its capacity about 300 to 500 people, inviting even the big shots of Prince Rupert from the Mayor to Dan Miller and we have live band Manila Boys. The Filipino Party was always the talk of the town because of lavish foods, elegant attires, party the night away, it was well organized party so it was just so perfect. The Mayor of Prince Rupert that time was a rich, humble man (Italian-Canadian) who owned Budget rent a car company, helicopters and yacht. Know what? He likes walking from his home to his office. He owns so many cars why walk? He said that's his kind of exercise and he likes to converse with people he meets on the street that's it he is easy to approach, too friendly.
LIFE's so good in Prince Rupert my children were born there. We traveled to Vancouver Island so many times to visit my parents-in law. The long distance from Prince Rupert to Vancouver was exhausting sometimes. We traveled to Philippines twice before year 2000 the Millennium. In those two years at least TORONTO BLUE JAYS WON! 1992 & 1993. lol. I want them to win in 1994 however strikes happened.
USA is no longer a free gateway from Canada. Canadians or Americans can no longer drive freely or enter each country without being questioned. All Borders are strictly guarded. Wonder why. Too many protests happening everywhere. There was that Greenpeace who are environmentalists and they too have their political voice in public and on TV.
However, something weird happened in Prince Rupert when rumors started spreading out of an oil or gas extraction in Prince Rupert. Rumors of the PULP MILLS CLOSING DOWN and all the political turmoils. There was an economic crisis happening and we in Prince Rupert were not ready for it. At the same time, my Mother-in-law was in critical condition, had a heart attack and was at the ICU. My husband was having sleepless nights thinking about her Mom. He doesn't know if he will go there to V.I. while the crisis is going on at the pulp mill and the strikes are looming to happen any day. Their company was affected by the strikes and the wild protest of those who were involved in the UNION had them stranded for a while. There are wild threats. It was mind boggling crazy!
Look, majority of the people, inhabitants of Prince Rupert are employed in the Skeena Pulp Mills. Can you just imagine how many thousands of them who will lose their employment? (They lose it! THOUSANDS OF THEM WERE LAID OFF!).
The major industry in Prince Rupert are the Pulp Mill, Grain Elevators, Sawmill, Cannery, Fishing industry, Tourism, the large hospital has at least employed hundreds of staff, doctors, specialists, surgeons, and nurses. There are retail stores that shutdown before the closure of the pulp mill.
Looking back through the years and how politics had affected a flourishing community, a city that is about to turn into modern urban community... and yet maybe it was not what it should be.
The boom of the high modern technology, the rise of MICROSOFT had those pulp mills shutdown its business. The Newspaper business and some publishing companies are faced with economic crisis. The forestry, the forest would be just as it is ENCHANTED.
BANKRUPT? Too many businesses went bankrupt! Too many countries went bankrupt because of the rise of MODERN HIGH TECHNOLOGY, because of COMPUTERS! Blame AI.
Artificial Intelligence already was happening before year 2000. That's why Pres. BUSH was already having feud with MICROSOFT's BILL GATES. Tight security was administered on all borders of the USA. The war in Iraq and Iran and in the Middle East became the world's NEWS STORY and the 9/11 happened TWIN TOWERS collapsed when 2 jet planes crashed and another plane crashed at the Pentagon.
Blame AI and blame the outsourcing of labor (digital labor) from other countries. Blame all the hackers!!
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