Big Bad John's

Whenever I go to Victoria, I like to go to this Bar called Big Bad John's. Actually, I am lying. Big Bad john's is not just a bar. It is a wholesome experience. The first time I stepped into the bar, I entered there by mistake. I was there to exchange money, because I only had US dollars. I felt like I had been transported into a saloon, with a touch of Hogsmeade, that wizard Village in Harry Potter. The place has christmas tree lights all over. Bras hanging from the ceiling, with inscriptions like "Julia was here". Money bills from different countries were stuck to the pillars. Country music playing. The peanuts are on the house, as long as you throw the shells away on the floor. And when I noticed that the barmen wore overalls, I was ecstatic " May I take a picture with you?" I asked the barman, Todd. And he very nicely agreed. Well, I'm not a fan of country music, but even this fit perfectly there (couldn't picture Katy Perry playing, for example). 

Me and Todd, the bartender, on my first visit to Big Bad John's

The place is unbelievable. The staff is unbelievable. So are the people who go there (after going there over 7 times, I'm including myself in that category now, too). Sometimes, I'd sit there and a drunk guy would approach me with a cheesy line such as: "You lips are beautiful, can i kiss you?" (No!) or a funny old man, talking about Reavers, (only he said Deevers) "creatures that will cut you in pieces, eat you and then wear you, and they will do that in that order if you're lucky". He probably watched Firefly. 


On a very peculiar night, I brought my homework to the bar, and started asking people about words they knew. A middle aged woman went on about Tupac, and how she was into his songs, lately. Uh, let me put it this way. Not expressions you should put in your homework. The thing is, no matter how crazy is the person who approaches me, I feel perfectly safe there, because just one look in the direction of any of the staff, or in Todd (the barman)'s direction, they will kick the person out of the bar. But the whole thing (the drunk person) is usually so funny that you don't even complain. Well, I come from Brazil, a place where often it's not safe to walk by yourself to bars. I'm used to being suspicious most of the time. And there is a place where people offer to pay for your drinks. Where the barman knows where you are sitting, so you can go to the bathroom. You talk to strangers, but don't leave the bar with them. You sing to Shania Twain's "Any Man of Mine" with strangers, for crying out loud! What can I say? The pace is FUN! I met a fellow Brazilian in the bathroom line. I like random. Speaking of random, sometimes the buzz will go off unexpectedly. FUN!

And for the brave girls, there is a challenge waiting for you. All I can say is that it involves a free shirt. I'm not even saying what that shirt says. Ask them (*mischievous smile*)


 In a nutshell, if you go to another country, don't go to clubs. Same kind of songs. Same people. It's like going to Mac Donald's when you are in Paris. Leave your comfort zone. Try something truly local. Try Big Bad John's ( I swear they didn't pay me for the add, it's just THAT good).

Where to eat

In terms of food, I noticed that canadians have healthy eating habits. Of course, you can gain weight, regardless of the type of residence, if you don`t make the right choice. As I said previously, I stayed in a homestay, that included breakfast, lunch and dinner. And my host seldom ate greasy food, usually cooking dishes with vegetables. Since I would generally walk around downtown the whole day, and I was so scared to get fat, I would get home starving and sometimes get second helpings. Both in the Unites States and in Canada, dinner is usually around 6, 6:30, earlier than in Brazil.

But, since we don`t always eat at home, I had the opportunity to have lunch and dinner at some interesting places.

Sticky Wicket/Big Bad John’s: This two pubs have their menu in common. The prince ranges between 8 dollars and 12 dollars for the sandwich. The size and quality are very similar to Outback`s. So, if you like the australian themed restaurant, they still have an advantage over it. Sticky Wicket and BBJ’s are only full at saturdays. Even when they are, the wait line is not so long.

Sura: Taste is something perosnal, But this restaurant was to expensive, for the quality of the food they served. I`m not crazy about korean food, either.

The Mint: The Mint is the perfect date restaurant. Dim light, no loud music, Thai and Italian food, in general. The most expensive food is the lamb curry for 17 canadian dollars. Service is great. Very cozy atmosphere.

The girls at the Mint

The Flying Otter: This restaurant, located at the Inner Harbor gets full every Wednesday, because Wednesday is Wings Day, and chicken wings cost 35 cents each. a basket with 10, then, costs 3,50. A group of friends may order many different flavors ( I recomend Honey Garlic and Teriaki), and in the end, you pay mere 10 dollars. To eat a LOT!

Wednesdays at the Flying Otter

The Maude Hunters Pub: I tasted the best sandwich ever, at this place. Beef with sauce, and shitaki. They also have a chicken wing deal on Fridays, even cheaper than Flying Otter's: 25 cents.

Earls: Another from the hot barmen/waiter/waitress restaurants. At Earls, Mr Universe is Matt. Food is also tasty. They serve soup, pasta and sandwiches. I loved a hamburguer with mushrooms I tasted there. I also tried a fetuccini that was good.

Friday at Earls

Fernwood Inn: This restaurant at Fernwood Village, at Fernwood Road, is very pleasant. I particularly enjoyed the yam fries. Can`t really remember the rest.

Tim Hortons: Tim Hortonsisn`t so much a restaurant, as a coffee place, that serves coffee based beverages, hot chocolate and pastries. BUT It is CANADIAN. Make sure you go there at least once, if you want to say you really have been to Canada. Plain Donuts cost 99 cents.

MC Donald’s: Just for the fries, that are terribly scrumptious. The rest of the Menu tastes pretty much the same.

Wendy`s: Three words for you: Stellar Chicken Fingers 

Note that the price on the menu is not exactly what you are going to pay. Over this price, there is a tax that ranges between 10 and 12% and the tip. On the other hand, most of the restaurants offer free pop refill (Make sure you say pop. If you order soda in Canada, they will put soda, not coke in your glass).

Whale Watching in Victoria BC

I knew about the whale watching trip since before I went to Victoria. It was one of the things I wanted to do, after all, the life of an exchange student is not made solely of shopping. One needs to fill their soul with adventures and things one has never done before. Usually, I wouldn’t recommend this trip during the winter, because only two companies work at this time of the year, Prince of Whales being one of them, and even they don`t guarantee their sighting. They say during this time, it’s a wildlife tour. And it gets really cold out in the sea. If on land it was probably 6 degrees celsius, on the ocean it felt like minus 15. My ESL teacher said this was probably due to the windchills.

But if, like me, you can`t afford to wait for springtime to come, don`t waste this opportunity of having such a transcendental experience. I had never really been into circus and the zoo as a child, but I gladly paid 95 bucks (85 plus taxes for students) without even knowing if I was actually going to spot a whale. It`s different, I guess, seeing the animal like that, in its natural habitat, instead of in a fish tank doing tricks for noisy kids. I didn’t like the show at the Sea World that much. There, I said it! 

A propos: To laymen like myself: Although their nickname, killerwhales, say otherwise, Orcas are not really whales. They are dolphins.

You can schedule the trip and pick out the best company at the information stand located at the Inner Harbor downtown. They also have leaflets for Butchart Gardens, castle and cave trips. I got up early, and was there by ten o’clock on Saturday morning. At the information stand, they told me none of the trips had enough people yet. One still needed two people at least, which sounded perfect, because a german woman had just stepped in, interested on that trip. Prince of Whales still needed four. But their boat, a zodiac, was better for the excursion, as only 10 fit in. Nothing worse than having to open way amidst a bunch of strangers to get a peek of the animal from afar, as though I was in a rock concert, and the whale was on stage, breaking an electric guitar. Disturbing to picture, I know, but that was sort of how I felt, about to see a rock star. Were we going to see it up close? Would it even feast us its presence?

They got the number of people they needed. Around twelve fifteen, we walked into a room full of orange suits. The guides said we had to pull those over our clothes, that should be as warm as possible. Luckily I was wearing my ski jacket. We didn`t take bags or purses into the boat either, but left them inside this room. I just took my camera along. 

The zodiac boat

On our way out, I met two women from Sweden, and one from Vancouver, who was in Victoria just for a day. The guide asked who wanted to sit up front. The Swedish girls and me volunteered faster than you can say whale watching.

The trip lasts two to three hours. On our way, the guide told us a lot of fun facts about whales, like the fact that they are monogamous, have only one baby every two years, and we could see resident whales or in transit . That the Orcas were marked, that is, each one of them had been IDed, with a series of numbers that were supposed to be their number. He said he had a device to help him listen to them, besides a sort of communicating device to ask people on land about the whale`s direction. And each time they turned the ignition on, a windchill entered my ears, making it hurt. I managed, with some effort, to tie the chord of the jumpsuit hood over the ski coat hood and over my toque (you say it like took), wich is the word borrowed from French for cap. The result was, I looked like Kenny, from Southpark. The one that ALWAYS dies in the end.

So, when I started to realize I had paid nearly a hundred bucks to go round and round on a boat, and settling for that, the first cry. The Swedish girls by my side could see the fin of a whale. And I couldn’t, at all.

After that, another one. Soon, there was a group of them together. The guide said they must be hunting around there. By then, I was standing on my seat, because everyone would get up when they emerged, and everytime that happened, I couldn`t see a thing. It was thrilling anyway. The whales really were hunting a sea lion, an otter or something. The guide, excited as can be, kept repeating that he didn`t expect for that to happen. Pretty soon, I was using the camera zoom as binoculars, until the battery started to die, and I couldn`t leave it in stand by, in order to shoot the perfect picture. And I admit I was feeling a little jealous, because the Swedish girls were getting such great pictures!

Orca doing the Spying Hop

But my turn came. At some point, one of the orcas emerged and you could see its whole head. It was different from the zillions of fin pictures I had so far. I took that picture in a hurry, before the camera turned off when the battery died. I made it. What looked like a fin was actually the head of an Orca spying before diving back into the water. This movement lasts about 30 seconds and is called spying hop. And I managed to take a picture of that. It was from afar, but thrilling anyway. It was totally worth everything. Even the other guide, Marion, said she had looked down for just a second, and when she looked up the orca was gone.

After that, we went along the coast to see some sea lions, but by that time, my battery was way gone. We also saw a bald eagle, that flew over our heads to show off, and than landed where it had been before.

We went back to land, and had some free hot chocolate before leaving for home. Great trip. Five stars. Totally worthwhile!

Hello!

My name is Larissa Rumiantzeff. I am a 26 year old Brazilian woman, with somewhat of a Russian heritage. In 2011, I went to Victoria BC, in Canada, in January. It was the most liberating experience of my life so far. Even thought I had already been an exchange Student in the United States, in 2002, and it was a life changing experience, this time I was in a different stage. This time, it was not about getting a chance to start anew and to know myself. It was not about running away from something either, like I tried to, at seventeen. This time, I was not a minor. There were no llamas, and the exchange program didn’t send me to a ranch. There was no wonderful second host family either, and no singing around happily to Disney songs, rafting trips or thanksgiving dinners in Portland either. Last time, it was about learning and experiencing things I never knew I liked. This time, it was about enjoying them. Not better, just different.

I still couldn’t drive (let’s say I had other priorities), but there are tons of busses in Victoria, and not the yellow school bus either. I’m talking about the grown up busses. There were also bars and pubs, and I could drink legally. There were no parents worrying about me, so long as I remembered to call my host mother and let her know if I was going to be home for dinner, and call my real mother in Brazil. Because I am an adult now. I got to explore.

I had promised to write a report about my trip, for my exchange program, to be published in the university website. But as I started writing, I felt like the report was getting bigger and bigger, and I had more and more things to say. How to comprise a whale watching experience in just one paragraph? How to describe the experience of hanging out with Koreans and Japanese in classroom every single day, in just one sentence? How to compile the best of Victoria in just a few words? It simply couldn’t be done. I did write the report, in the end, but I had to write a blog of my own as well.

As a chronically affected exchange student, or a professional traveler, this is my treatment. Just like Scarlett O’Hara found her strength in the red earth of Tara, mine is in traveling and writing. Just like at the time of the Great Navigations, I had to report what I saw in foreign lands. When all else fails, writing always makes me feel better. Plus I felt like I really got to know the city. So, this is the space to share with you my experience in Victoria.