This weekend an amazing event is taking place and INTERNeX is going! I’m talking about Art Vancouver, a prestigious art fair that “brings the international art world together”. The show is going on from the big opening night on Thursday until Sunday evening. We picked Saturday as our day to go with lots of exhibitors talking about one of their art pieces, their journey as an artist and more, the chance to sign up for hands-on art classes, an interesting panel talk about AI Art and an Art Masters painting competition at the end of the day. At the competition the artists will be given a theme and their task is to express this within one hour, using a mystery box of supplies. We as the audience vote for the winner! 😉 I’m sure we’re going to have an amazing time with lots to learn and take in. I’m excited, are you? 🙂
If you want to warm up for this day of fun on Saturday I recommend you go to the Art Gallery on Friday where you have free entrance between 4pm and 8pm, only every first Friday of the month, so this is your chance if you love art and want to save a buck. 😉 Current Exhibitions include ‘The Children have to hear another story: Alanis Obomsawin’. Alanis is an activist and filmmaker born into a dark period of Indigenous history. Despite this, she managed to access public platforms and tell Indigenous stories. Another Exhibition is ‘Shary Boyle: Outside the Palace of Me’ which reflects on “contemporary constructions of self through language of costume, character, set design and stage effects, Byole explores how we see each other and how we see ourselves.” Those are just two of the five exhibitions that are taking place at the Gallery right now. I don’t want to spoil too much, so why don’t you take a look yourself?
More into sports than into art? How about grabbing your buddy and going to a sports bar to watch an Ice Hockey game? The Stanley Cup Playoffs are happening at the moment and it’s a major event since, you know, it’s Canada’s National sport. 😉 There’s lots of good sports bars around that offer delicious pub food, cold drinks and big flat screen TV’s showing the game. I’m sure if a Canadian team is playing you’ll feel like you’re in the stadium. 😉 Afterwards you could go out and explore Vancouver’s Night Life! Want to avoid conversations about Ice Hockey with others at the bar because you don’t know enough about it? Don’t worry we’ve got you covered, just check out our blog post about the history and basics of the Stanley Cup and in no time you’ll be able to make conversation with one of the locals at the bar: https://internexcanada.wordpress.com/2023/04/26/canadian-knowledge-test-101-the-stanley-cup/
I hope you have an amazing weekend and can report lots of fun things at next weeks Pub Night!
Many of you have either seen an Ice Hockey Game before or it’s on your bucket list, rightly so considering it’s Canadas National sport. But how much do you really know about the sport and its greatest competition to win the famous Stanley Cup?
The fight for the trophy is happening right at this moment and watching at least one of the games is definitely a point that you want to cross off your list. Unfortunately, there’ll be no live Ice Hockey events in Vancouver any time soon but there’s lots of sports bars streaming the games in a ‘stadium like’ atmosphere so you can get a taste of the passionate cheering for one of the teams and feel part of the Canadian sports culture.
Before you dive into this experience I’m here to give you a run down of the most important information when it comes to the Stanley Cup so you’ll understand better why this competition is so important for many sports fanatics.
The Stanley Cup, the oldest trophy competed for by professional athletes in North America. Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord Stanley of Preston and son of Earl of Derby purchased the trophy in 1892 for $50 at the time to be presented to ‘the championship hockey club of the Dominion of Canada’. In 1893 the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association was the first team ever awarded with the Stanley Cup.
The trophy has been altered over time, e.g. rings and bands were added to the bottom of the bowl. Every time a team wins their names are going to be inscribed on the bands of the cup. Since it’s the only professional sports trophy where names are displayed like that, bands get changed to make room for new champions. Currently the trophy is about 35 ¼ inches high and weighs 34 ½ pounds.
Ever since the National Hockey Association (NHL) took possession of the Stanley Cup in 1910 it has been symbolic of professional hockey supremacy. From 1926 onward only NHL teams have competed for the trophy.
Can you guess which team has won most Stanley Cups? It was The Montreal Canadians with 23 times since the formation of the NHL!
When a team wins they celebrate it by passing the trophy around between each of the players and staff members of the team. Everyone gets to enjoy it for 24 hours, a tradition like in no other sport. What would you do if you had the cup for a day?
Now that you have a finer insight of why this competition is so important, let’s move on to understand the structure of it a little better, so you know what everyone is talking about.
Over the entire year teams try to collect points in order to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In the end there’ll be 16 teams that have made it. The contest is divided into a West and East conference and each conference is then divided into two divisions. Once again: There’s 8 teams per conference, 4 per division = 16 teams total. So far so good right?
The best team in each conference plays against the worst team in each conference and the second best plays against the second worst with the goal to win 4 out of 7 games against each other. The same applies for the 4 remaining teams that play against each other within their division. Makes sense? That means the two ‘mediocre’ teams of one division play against each other. I know, there’s a lot going on and I don’t want to make it more complicated or confuse you, so all I’ll say is that in the end the best team of the West conference will play against the best team of the East conference and that’s the big final. On the way there’s A LOT of matches to be played which tests the players resilience since hockey can be a brutal sport. One thing’s for sure it barely gets boring to watch.
There’s only 3 Canadian teams left in the Playoffs right now – the Edmonton Oilers, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Winnipeg Jets – so better be fast and cheer on your favourite to help them win! Pick your sports bar and immerse yourself into this Canadian sport experience. Next Pub night we’ll try to go see one game together but until then a lot can change!
If you don’t have weekend plans yet, I recommend you put this on your list. If you have any questions, ask Tim. 😉
I hope this post helps you as it helped me to understand this sport and its culture a little better. You’ll see, you’ll leave Canada as a real Hockey expert. I could probably write for many more hours, but I think I’d rather chat more with you about the Stanley Cup at tonight’s Pub Night, so see you there!
Who’s ready for spring? I definitely am, especially after this week of warmer temperatures and the sun showing its face again for more than just 2 days in a row! When you walk around you hear the birds chirping and you see the trees blossom, flowers starting to bloom.
There’s one way to celebrate the signs of spring this weekend and that is at the big picnic of the cherry blossom festival in David Lam Park. ‘This event honours the Honorable Dr. David Lam’s donation of cherry trees and celebrates friendship as we are all friends under the cherry tree.’ Bring your picnic blanket and some snacks to share, sit under the beautiful blooming cherry trees and enjoy music among other entertainment in the park. There’ll be food vendors around in case you don’t want to bring any food yourself. Even though the last week treated us well weather wise, I advise to check out the forecast before you leave the house on Saturday since it can change within minutes. It’s best to be prepared for all kinds of scenarios here in Vancouver! So, make sure to bring a rain jacket and proper shoes with you. If it gets too rainy we won’t sit on the grass, but we’ll still enjoy the event for a while until we maybe find another place to hang out at that’s warm and dry. I can’t wait to celebrate with you! 🙂
Allergic to cherry trees? Maybe try doing something indoors this weekend. 😉 How about watching an Ice Hockey game at the Rogers arena? This Sunday there’s a game between the Vancouver Canucks and LA Kings. Definitely something you should experience while you’re here. I’d say Ice Hockey is one of the National sports in Canada, super popular! There sometimes are fights on the ice, broken hockey sticks, lots of action, fun entertainment during the breaks and an amazing atmosphere in the stadium that you don’t want to miss. Even people who I’ve spoken to that don’t know much about Ice Hockey, really enjoyed the games, so why not give it a try and see how you like it? You better do it fast as well, there’s not going to be a lot more games in Vancouver this season, the last one is on April 8th, which is next week! So, take a buddy and go watch a game. 🙂
Whatever you decide to do, enjoy your weekend exploring the city and tell me all about it next Pub Night! 🙂
This weekend was so amazing! Let me tell you what happened.
Let’s start with Friday. I went to another Vancouver Canucks game, this time they played against the Arizona Coyotes. The atmosphere and the people cheering for the Canucks were amazing. The team performed well in this game and won 4-0. One of the highlights was that the actress Cobie Smulders, who plays Robin Scherbatsky in the world famous sitcom “How I met your mother” was in the Rogers Arena to watch the game. When it comes to food I recommend the Nacho & Hotdog combination, trust me it’s so good! Hockey is a very special thing for Canadians, so be sure to check out one game while you’re here!
On Saturday, we had another great event for some of the Internexers. We went together in cooperation with Moose Travel Network to Joffre Lakes which is located in the north of Pemberton in British Columbia. We went for a hike with a group of 12. The first stop was at the lower lake of the three lakes we were about to see. It was beautiful with the mountains in the background and the sun shining through the leaves. Approximately one hour later after some steps and steep parts of the hike we arrived at the Middle Joffre Lake. There we saw even more beautiful scenery and landscape. The clear blue turquoise water and the trees around it in combination with the sun gives you a real Canadian wild life experience, which was amazing. There were even some super cute birds that would come and sit on your hand if you extended your arm. Not a moment that you experience often in your life! The trail guides you to the next sight of the hike which were the amazing Holloway Falls in the middle of the forest. After seeing the falls we completed the hike with the view of the third Upper Joffre Lake which was just breathtaking! Sitting on the rocks we had our lunch break, amazed by the beauty of nature! Some of us went even further down the trail to the point were the glacier of Mount Matier meets the water of the lake. We even learned why the lakes are so turquoise. The melting and rubbing of the glacier ice on the rocks of the mountains create a thing which is called rock powder. When the rock powder mixes with the melting water from the glacier and the sun shines through the water it reflects the sun and thus creates the turquoise colour. How amazing is that? As we hiked back we took many photos and got picked up again by our bus driver. What an amazing day!
Since in Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the 10th of October and many of the candidates got their own Thanksgiving at home in their hostfamilies, we thought about making our own INTERNeX Thanksgiving at the Kitsilano Beach with a potluck and a traditional turkey on Sunday. We had food like casseroles, chips with guacamole, salads, snacks, desserts, bread, turkey with stuffing, vegetables and other tasty things. We gathered with about 25 people and played some games, e.g. Kubb, soccer, basketball, volleyball and some card games. Everyone had so much fun and we celebrated the Thanksgiving all together, which was so amazing! Also the location at the Kitsilano Beach was great, together with the sunny weather you couldn’t tell if it’s summer in July or Thanksgiving in October. All in all it was an amazing event with lots of fun and laughs throughout the day.
To conclude, I can say that the whole weekend was packed with lots of fun events!
Let me know about your past weekend, or your plans for the upcoming one!
What a packed weekend! We did lots of things from Thursday until Sunday!
Let’s start with Thursday. I went to a Hockey game with some friends of mine, which was so great! It was the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena against the Seattle Kraken. The whole vibe and the experience there was amazing! You definitely know that this sport is a national sport for the Canadians. Some shows in the break and an exciting game with some fist fights made that event super special. There were also some representatives from the indigenous peoples showing a cultural music performance, in special regards to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the day that honours the children who never returned home and Survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Unfortunately the Canucks lost in the overtime against the Kraken 3-4. But overall, it was such a great experience!
On Friday, I was thinking about spending time in nature. So therefore I met with a friend of mine to go to Lynn Canyon Park with its suspension bridge. The park with its nature was so amazing! The weather was nice, so I even needed to cool myself with the fresh spring water from Lynn Canyon. In the evening, nearly 30 people from INTERNeX got together to go to the Richmond Night Market, which was also a great event. So many colourful lights and lamps illuminating the night sky, and even a live-band was playing there! We got to try so much food like flower-onions, Takoyaki (fried squid balls), grilled meat on a stick and finally the best thing for me: Beaver Tails! It’s like a long fried dough with some cinnamon and sugar, but you can also try some other flavours. I was waiting so long to try those and I got the chance on Friday. It was so yummy, you need to try it! The night market is going to be open until this Sunday, so if you don’t want to miss this special experience, go there on the weekend!
Since you never get enough of Vancouver’s Nature, I went to the UBC Campus on Saturday to visit the Botanical Gardens with a friend. The quiet place of Nitobe Memorial Garden is a true masterpiece in the ever busy town of Vancouver. With the head full of the experiences of the Hockey game, the night market and the gardens, I met another friend group to watch the Vancouver Whitecaps this time at BC Place. This was also a special experience because I can compare the soccer situation here pretty well to the situation in my home country Germany due to the fact that I’m supporting a club there. The quality of the soccer is not comparable to the soccer in Europe, but then again you also can’t compare the hockey quality in Europe to the quality here. =) I guess both Europe and North America have their own national sports. In the end, the Whitecaps scored two goals and won 2:0. That’s what you call a successful evening!
On Sunday we went to Whistler Village. This village is about 2 hours north of Vancouver and we went there by bus. I did find it very easy to hop on the bus and then 2 hours later you are there, voila! Whistler is known for its nature where hiking and mountain biking are the highlights during the summer season and during winter you can go skiing and snowboarding.
We started the day in Whistler with a short coffee break and then we headed to one of the bike rentals to get some mountain bikes for our activity – biking to Lost lake and Green Lake. We were so lucky with the weather, the sun was shining as we were biking along the trail in the forest. When we reached Green Lake, we totally understood how the lake got its name. The lake is fed by glacial streams and the water was freezing cold but so refreshing. Definitely worth a swim if you are up for it on a sunny day! The location of both lakes had such a stunning view, a big recommendation when you are going to Whistler in summer!
After a great time by the lakes, we went back to the village to return the bikes as we were exploring the village in search of lunch. We bought some classic poutine, salad, a lot of water and some soft drinks to keep us hydrated in the warm weather. In the centre of the village we found a park table with a parasol so we took the chance to have our lunch there enjoying Whistler Village.
For the next activity we went up to the mountain with the Black Comb gondola. It took us about 25 minutes to go up with the gondola, and hey; what a view! We stopped at the first mountaintop taking in the beautiful view before we went to the next gondola, the Peak 2 Peak with a 360 degrees experience which provided a perspective of British Columbia’s rooftop with views of Whistler Village, volcano peaks, coastal rainforests and glaciers. The Peak 2 Peak gondola is 4,4km long which is the world’s longest unsupported span for a lift of this kind at 3.025km height. It’s the world’s highest lift at 436m above the valley floor. So cool!! When we reached the other top we saw the Olympic Games statue shining in the background so we were totally in for another group photo in front of that statue. On the mountain they had a lodge serving coffee, food and other beverages. They even had a game in the centre of that patio which was a lot of fun for us and other visitors. Unfortunately, we couldn’t go up to the face of the mountain where they had a suspension bridge because of preparations for the upcoming winter season, so let’s go to Whistler as soon as the winter season starts!
After a few hours our visit on the mountain reached an end and we decided to go back to the Village with the two gondolas to meet the rest of the group and do some shopping before going back home to Vancouver. I can tell that Whistler is such a beautiful village that offers a lot of sightseeing and activities, so if you are going to Whistler in the near future, I’m sure you will enjoy every second of it, like I did!
We hope you had a great weekend and we hope to see many of you on Pub Night this Wednesday 😀
INTERNeX Canada 