Vancouverite Grace Park as Boomer on Battlestar Gallactica
Vancouver Special - ubiquitous architectural style of home favoured by new Canadians that has become a signature feature of the landscape of the Lower Mainland.
Toronto may have the largest population of Korean Canadians, but Vancouver’s enjoying the greatest population increase of Korean immigrants in Canada. So what does this mean for Vancouver? Well, let’s see… besides the beautiful women (think Sandra Oh, Grace Park, Annie Lee) who’ve called the city home, enriched cultural diversity and the cool fashion sense of visiting Korean students attracted by Vancouver’s thriving Korean community, there’s also Koreatown. Popular with visiting students, Korean Canadian downtown residents and tourists, Koreatown has transformed the landscape of Vancouver’s famous Robson Street. Once the shopping is over for the day, the nightlife picks up in the bars and restaurants in Koreatown. While most Korean Canadians in the Lower Mainland live in the burbs, young people often head to Robson Street in the city’s busy West End for some weekend mingling with the student/tourist set.
But not everyone is so keen to hoof it into the West End for a good food and company. While Koreatown is home to some great restaurants, there’s amazing Korean food to found all over the Lower Mainland. A Korean Canadian friend of mine (or ‘KC’ as we decided to call her because it sounds funny) swears Insadong in Coquitlam will change my life. I told her I’d consider making it my New Years resolution to leave ‘the city’ and brave the half hour SkyTrain ride out for such a highly recommended life event. Sensing my tunnel vision on the food thing, KC pointed out that while for her and her family food is practically a religion, religion is also a…religion. This surprised me as KC didn’t strike me as particularly devout. She explained that she attends Christian services primarily for her parents and to socialize with other people in the Korean Canadian community. She informed me that church is a good place for recent immigrants to touch base with others who’ve been here longer. That and apparently it’s also a great place to catch up on gossip from ‘back home’. I asked her if she considers Korea or Canada home and she answered “Here, Canada,’ without missing a beat. When I asked her if she’d ever move back she said that while she likes to visit family, she wouldn’t leave Canada. Unless of course, she meets a hot guy over there.