I've arrived!

I am here in Vancouver in the Downtown Eastside. Yesterday was one of the longest days of my life, being up for about 24 hours. Woohoo!
I had an interesting flight yesterday. About an hour into it we had our trays down and I had an aisle seat. The guy next to me wanted to use the washroom, and I held my tongue (not asking him to wait until they clear our trays). I was trying to balance my cup of coffee and tray in my hand and when the tray went up, I lost my balance and poured half a cup of coffee directly into my lap. Oh my. I was litterally sitting in a pool of coffee for the rest of the 5 hour flight. Yessssssss. Dan (who was flying with me) found it quite amusing.
I was given my living space for the year in the Belmoral hotel. Apparently it is the sketchiest slum hotel in the Downtown Eastside. There is one toilet per floor and one shower on every other floor. The shower is not working at the moment, so I might have to take a shower fast for a couple of days. Yummy.
My classes don't actually kick off until Monday, so yesterday and today are pretty much just to relax a bit. I found out this morning that we might have bed bugs, so I dont know how much relaxing I'll do tonight. We have killed some bugs that look like cockroaches, but that are filled with blood...interesting. If they are there, then we have to throw away our one and only dresser where we are keeping our clothes. Oh well, there are worse things.
There seems to be many nice people here. Hopefully once classes start i'll be able to get to know them better. There are only a few in culture shock from this shady area of town. Everything is out in the open - the drugs, prostiution, desparity... There are 10,000 users within the 8 block radius.
Surprisingly, (or not), I am not too bothered by it. I think the real challenge will be to not simply 'tollerate' the living conditions, but to actively make a difference. I could live this year roughing it out, but if I never really reach out and talk to my neighbours, then what's the point of doing what I am doing?
Just some thoughts...

PS - Montreal, I miss you :(