Today I started a journey. My own cooking journey. The school is perfect. It’s going to challenge me and frustrate me and teach me more than I ever imagined. The three Chef Instructors each have their own personalities and approaches to teaching. They all have the same vision and drive though, to help us, the students, get the most out of our experience.
I am already in a bit of awe about this city and what a change it is from the small bubbles I have been living in. This story and journey is about more than my culinary adventures. It encompasses a new life. From small-town Ontario to Metro Vancouver I am thrown in.
We got our uniforms and tool kits today. The uniforms are professional and I’m amazed I own a real chef’s knife. It’s an unreal dream. I looked at my knife, tried it out, cut myself on it and wondered if I really want it! It represents a new place and stage in my life. One of danger and independence.
There are people from all over the world in Vancouver and in my class….Spain, Mexico, France, Pakistan. I feel small and insignificant and very small townish being here. But I like the feeling of slipping in, unknown by most and being content with my short visit to the big city. I already had to get my fix of trees, ocean and solitude in Stanley Park. I found Beaver Lake- one of the only places in the park that you can’t really hear the cars and the wildlife is truly abundant. There were ducks feeding where the ice had broken and a heron on the ice. There were songbirds everywhere and the plant life was green even amongst the frost. I hid there with them for awhile before re-emerging into the city.