INTERNeX News

As we already talked about the current strike situation here in Vancouver, the situation could get a bit worse next week.
Just a little information, in case you haven’t read the previous post about it. 
The operators are striking for better working conditions, as they are having very hard days at the moment. Schedules are very tight so that there aren’t any bathroom or lunch-breaks. As there was still no agreement achieved so far, job action will be taken from now. 
There is a serious possibility that all buses including the SeaBus and Skytrain will go though a complete shutdown starting on Wednesday (27th November). Shutdown as in no public transport will be operated during this period of time!
For now, it seems like the shutdown will last for 3 days. But it might end up being shorter or longer depending on decisions that will be made in that period of time. It may also not happen at all.
Of course we will keep you up to date in this. 

Make sure to find alternative ways to get to work and Pub-Night (;-)) for that period of time and keep your eyes and ears open for news. 

Cheers,

–Nadja

International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 6N9-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

Rockies Trip: Song

“Music is the universal language of mankind”. So we went on a music hunt to find our INTERNeX GOES ROCKIES 2014 SONG. 

We decided to go for a song from Avicii , Wake me up. We think it fits good in with the trip and what we are about to experience. So get ready to hear this song 24/7 for the easter weekend and learn the text by heart! If you can think of an even greater song, please let us know! (We prefer an older song as well, like Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, etc). Oh and do not worry, you will hear a lot of the backstreet boys, spice girls and the rest of the ‘oldy gang’.

 

Feeling my way through the darkness
Guided by a beating heart
I can’t tell where the journey will end
But I know where to start
They tell me I’m too young to understand
They say I’m caught up in a dream
Well life will pass me by if I don’t open up my eyes
Well that’s fine by me

So wake me up when it’s all over
When I’m wiser and I’m older
All this time I was finding myself, and I
Didn’t know I was lost

So wake me up when it’s all over
When I’m wiser and I’m older
All this time I was finding myself, and I
Didn’t know I was lost

I tried carrying the weight of the world
But I only have two hands
Hope I get the chance to travel the world
But I don’t have any plans
Wish that I could stay forever this young
Not afraid to close my eyes
Life’s a game made for everyone
And love is a prize

So wake me up when it’s all over
When I’m wiser and I’m older
All this time I was finding myself, and I
Didn’t know I was lost

So wake me up when it’s all over
When I’m wiser and I’m older
All this time I was finding myself, and I
I didn’t know I was lost

I didn’t know I was lost
I didn’t know I was lost
I didn’t know I was lost
I didn’t know.

Our next pub night will be on Tuesday at Mooses Down Under on Pender Street. We will inform you on friday about the exact address and time.

Rockies we are ready for you! 

ps: if anyone has a guitar don’t forget to bring it for our campfire night!

INTERNeX International Exchange
International Village,
Suite 2077, 2079 – 88 West Pender Street
Vancouver, Canada -V6B 6N9-
Web: http://www.internexcanada.com
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

Casual Friday – Gastowns Steam Clock

What is the story of the Steam Clock? Nobody really knows, that is why I want to share with you today an article by Will Woods. He is a tour guide here in Vancouver and gets a lot of questions about the Steam Clock but that question is one he has difficulty answering, that is why he investigated this story.

Let’s get our facts on the table. First of all, while Gastown is old, the clock ain’t. Built in 1977, it’s not even reached middle age yet. Secondly, while it uses steam power, it also requires three (three!) electric motors. By my reckoning any device that requires three electric motors is stretching the definition of ‘steam-powered’ to its absolute limit. Thirdly, it is styled to look like a 19th century antique rather than representing any actualdesign aesthetic of the late 70’s – further draining it of authenticity.

As I led my tour groups through Gastown, it bugged me. Why is this clock here? Aren’t there more interesting sights and relics in the city that should be more celebrated than the Gastown Clock? Are we letting down our city’s visitors by drawing them to it?

So I decided to dig a little deeper…I decided there had to be something interesting about the clock. I started by stepping back in time, to Gastown-before-the-clock. 1967 to be precise.

In the late 60’s Gastown was a much edgier place than today. Many of the buildings were derelict or provided slum accommodation for low-income people. Gastown also hosted a burgeoning counter-culture movement as hippies were drawn to the area, attracted by its cheap rents and cheaper drugs.

The mayor of the time was Tom “Terrific” Campbell. A strident pro-development mayor with an eye fixed firmly on the future. Campbell had bold plans for Vancouver. Protecting the city’s heritage buildings and its low-income Eastside communities was not in those plans. Working with urban planners, Tom developed a proposal to totally reconfigure Vancouver’s downtown. Swathes of Chinatown, Strathcona and historic Gastown were to be demolished to make way for a giant freeway.

Vancouver is notable amongst North American cities precisely because it does not have a freeway running through its centre. Cities including Toronto, Seattle and Chicago all have freeways running alongside their downtown waterfronts. Tom Campbell wanted a similar freeway system in Vancouver, including a third bridge from downtown to the North Shore. In fact right now The Museum of Vancouver has an excellent exhibit showing the plans and models of this never-built freeway system.

So what happened? Why doesn’t downtown have a 12 lane freeway? Well, it turned out the people who happily lived in Chinatown, Strathcona and Gastown in 1970 preferred not to be forcibly evicted from their homes to make way for a giant road. Surprise huh?

A concerted community campaign led by the residents of Chinatown put a stop to Tom’s terrific plans. The only stretch that got built was the Georgia St. and Dunsmuir St. viaducts, demolishing a neighhourhood known as Hogan’s Alley. In 1970 this part of town housed Vancouver’s black community and unfortunately the rearguard action by the Eastside communities came too late to save it. But Gastown, Chinatown and (most of) Strathcona were saved.

Today, the City of Vancouver is actively seeking proposals on what to do with the viaducts. My favourite suggestion is to build a park, perhaps honouring one of Hogan’s Alley’s occasional residents – Jimi Hendrix. He would visit his grandmother Nora there in the 1950’s and 60’s.

But what does all this have to do with the steam clock you might ask?? Good question. Following the saving of Gastown, the government started to invest in the area. Funds came in to refurbish the historic buildings that had fallen into disrepair. Businesses started to return and tourists started to feel welcome.

By 1977 the regeneration of Gastown was largely complete. Conscious the area needed a focal point to draw people in, store owners banded together and funded the clock. It’s steam theme a reference to the industrial past of the area, where steam pipes once ran underground powering machinery.

The inscription on the clock celebrates the restoration of Gastown. Interestingly the inscription does not make any specific reference to Tom Campbell’s unsuccessful freeway plans. I wonder if it was felt politically imprudent to embarrass a former mayor who had only been out of office for a few years, by drawing attention to his failed plans. I would be interested to hear from anyone who was part of the 1977 committee that funded, built and inscribed the clock who may know more!

So now every time I look at the clock I imagine Gastown as a bare patch of concrete, permanently in darkness, as cars thunder overhead on a giant elevated freeway. And then the clock doesn’t seem so bad after all.

Source: Will Woods is founder and Chief Storyteller at Forbidden Vancouver 

Cheers,

Petra

INTERNeX International Exchange
Suite 200 – 211 Columbia Street
Vancouver BC -V6A 2R5-
Web: www.internexcanada.com
Phone: +1 (604) 662 8149
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

The INTERNeX Explorer

Are you not totally convinced  about going to the amazing rocky mountains trip?? Then I made this for YOU a recollection of the previous rockies trip. Now you can see what amazing views you will be able to see  and what kind of activities you can do. There is so much that I needed to make 2 episodes of the rocky mountain trip. So watch the second episode of the Rocky trip video.

We have only 5 spots left so be quick and sign up today!!!

Greetings,

Petra

INTERNeX International Exchange
Suite 200 – 211 Columbia Street
Vancouver BC -V6A 2R5-
Web: www.internexcanada.com
Phone: +1 (604) 662 8149
Email: pr@internexcanada.com

Our Schoolbus-Schedule for the INTERNeX NAFSA Reception – Class of 2011

The INTERNeX Networking Reception will already take place this Wednesday, the 1st of June! INTERNeX is organizing a reception that is incomparable to any other receptions during the NAFSA Annual Conference and Expo, taking place in Vancouver, Canada. Therefore, the INTERNeX Team arranged transportation to our Networking Reception from serveral places. Because the theme will be North-American Prom ‘Class of 2011’ we organized a schoolbus!

Claudia Rutten will be there to pick you up and make sure you will have a fun ride to our Networking Reception. Here you find the schedule of the schoolbus.

If you have any questions about the event or the schoolbus, don’t hesitate to contact us at pr@internexcanada.com

Schoolbus Schedule:

Time	Where	Address	Destination
7.30 pm	Canadian Reception	Fairmont Hotel 900 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC V6C 2W6	INTERNeX Networking Reception Blarney Stone, 216 Carrall Street, Gastown
8.30 pm	Canada Convention Centre, Canada Place	Waterfront Road, Under the Confention Centre, where the offcial shuttle busses depart.	INTERNeX Networking Reception Blarney Stone, 216 Carrall Street, Gastown
10.30 pm	Plaza of the Nations	750 Pacific Boulevard, Vancouver, BC	INTERNeX Networking Reception Blarney Stone, 216 Carrall Street, Gastown

We hope to see you at the INTERNeX Class of 2011 Networking Reception, starting at 8 p.m. on June 1^st, 2011. The registration will close today, so make sure you will get your personal QR-code.

Regards,

The INTERNeX Team

INTERNeX International Exchange Suite
200-211 Columbia Street Vancouver BC -V6A 2R5-
Web: www.internexcanada.com
Phone:  +1 (604) 662 8149
Email: pr@internexcanada.com