Canada Diary Entry - July 31...Aug 3

Sun, July 31

Train Idar-Oberstein->Ffm/Airport; late. Using massive yellow trolley for books suitcase. Latte w Maman&Papa. AC's hot glue gun as single, checked baggage. Got an emergency exit seat ("you are so tall... I think I can give you an emergency exit seat.")
40.000ft, -47 deg Centigrade. Flew over Iceland; black&white glaciers, volcanoes. "Catch me if you can" as 2nd in-flight film - Canadian airline, movie with actual sex.
Quaker Chocolate Chip/Brisures de chocolat. Northern Hudson Bay: Opened the window blind; floating ice up to the horizon, black in places; bluest skies. Smooth flight.
Canadian soil - islands in H. Bay: brown, streaks of snow. Greenish lakes inbetween. No habitation for several thousands of miles. (Note: KB's bday. Congratz.)
Less water below now; i.e. covering only about 20% of the ground. Still no habitation.
21:10. Apart from actually crossing the polar time zone singularity, this is probably the fastest way to spend time: It's still brightest day outside. Slowly becoming tired.
Damn - forgot my travel hat. Seems my 1st souvenir's already booked.
22:45: OMG! I can see streets below! Even one car, per about 400sqkm. Got handed a déclaration douanière, all in French ("eh?"). Luckily federal regulations hold and there's an English page, too.
Laudatio for Captain Alan Snowy; retiring after 44yrs of service, started flying at age 17. Descent for Calgary; 30 deg on ground.
When seeing those plains, it becomes clear why fs always display ground as checkerboard.
Calgary Airpt: Stay clear of the windows. Extremely sunny&hot outside, a/c'd inside. Got camera batteries, after having had to give up on taking pictures during flight's 1st leg. Very tired now; 16:53 CMT, 00:53 CEST. Cell phone noticed a time zone change; unfortunately it settled for wrong time anyway.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome on board. It's just a few minutes until we can activate a/c."
Taxi to hotel; straight to bed; excursions tomorrow.

Mon, Aug 1

Woke up at 04:00 local time. Dark and quiet outside. Up to now, Edmonton has not shown its million-ppl face. Will call home now.
Sun shining straight into my room, across from Butterdome.
09:00: Waiting for bus, line 4. Streets long, broad, &almost empty. Before, got lost in Lister Hall caverns in search of Internet. No USB, so no blog update. Feeling a bit unwell.



West Edmonton Mall. Almost empty. Asian supermarket with live crabs (wiggling), being packed alive quite harshly. (BTW, whole city seems to be occupied by elder sportsmen - some World Masters Games on.) Noteworthy: The consumers' temple WEM sports only a few cafes, and no libraries/newsstands. Ice-skating? (Note: y'day the taxi driver informed me that the city is celebrating its 100th b'day this year. "Pretty old.") Having very spicy tom yang gum in WEM. Tell Techno M. Bublé is very in here, since Canadian. Incred many Asians; some mixed couples, but always the female Asian. Fled from a popcorn booth after ordering, before paying upon seeing the size of "medium" bags.
What's an (edible) Saskatoon? (Note: y'day's 1st car seen sported a "7.0l" plate.) 30 deg. Edm downtown coming into sight.



(Hours later, at Alberta Legislature...) Actually, the preconceptions about this place are right. People are incred friendly, greeting each other incessantly, posters asking ppl to be helpful, nobody having fear (terror being some strange idea of national politics), and subways and lonely dark corners are clean, safe, and don't smell. This is just incred so far.

Tue, Aug 2

Woke up at 06:00. Seems like jetlag retreats 2h a day. Tried to sleep on, but to no avail. Plan for today: Old Strathcona, river, zoo. Bluuue sky. Going to be hot. Need to get myself a hat.
Again stunning ppl, asking for my jetlag recovery.
Incred! Bought a bball cap - red with Maple Leaf. On a 35% discount for turning a lucky wheel! Altho I didn't want to at first. And prob I insulted the salesgirl when asking her if this is tourist stuff - they wear this here, too. And! I witnessed a squirrel shouting at a cat! (In Strathcona.)



Along the river: More squeaking squirrels. Becoming ubiquitous. Then to Muttart Conservatory, a botanical garden installation on the Strathcona side (which is btw a kind of alternative, smaller sister city to EDM). In the green meadows around, the EDM ski club. Meeting the same Australian woman all the time, since I arrived packed with the taxi. Relaxing in the Conservatory pyramids.



17:40. On way back. Visited Shaw Centre, venue of tomorrow's conf, then got into what I was told later is Canada place. A wondrously spacious place, completely devoid of ppl. It took me quite a while to find out about the fact that it's August 1st, public holiday. Still, like y'day (Sunday), shops are open. Not all, but enough to remind one of, say, Prague - ppl work there on weekends, too. (Note: Even pubescent girls in groups are polite here.) Had a long talk w 2 guards in CanPlace, one of whom had been stationed with Can Army in Lahr until 1989. Gave me/the Germans advice to stay optimistic in spite of current probs. Met the Australians three times today in the city.
Thunderstorm w lightning in the evening. The soles of my feet itch&hurt from walking.

Wed, Aug 3

Already drowsy upon waking up. Why?
1st conf day, already late. Luckily I know from y'day's xp that I don't get anything out of SLAM...
It's so incred. The subway ("LRT") wagons are 1) made by Siemens/Duewag, 2) from 1977, and 3) clean. No graffiti, no scratching, no dirt.



Have been the only white at Canada Place's Food Court's Ginza-japan lunch bar: Teriyaki chicken; 100 Japanese, 1 white. Internet mostly works only with installed notebooks here, WLAN doesn't for me.
Later: Finally, this Internet stuff got resolved, at least I could hook up my Dian-Hua to the wired access point. No WLAN, though. I think it's high time for a new notebook, esp when comparing my brick to the sleek new pieces of the Jap conf participants.
Had a long discussion w Linda W and Sa Li abt the Can univ education system - undergrad, grad, bachelor, master, who gets money, who pays money... all very confusing to the newcomer. But they are a great source of information.



Then continued the talking over a Starbucks coffee. Now I know sb whose parents have been serving for the People's Liberation Army... Walked all the way from Shaw CC to univ to Lister Hall. Dark and full of mosquitoes, but great. This place is just so safe.
I think I should start recapping the presentations I attended, otrwz they'll mix up into a large bunch of hogwash. Who knows what Rao-Blackwellized particle filters, or RBPF for short, are? Anyone? I thought I knew for a moment today.