Wednesday 28 February 2007

Commercial Drive




I found this movie thanks to the Vespa Club of Canada bulletin board. It is a travel feature on a part of Vancouver called Commercial Drive. Although I live in Maple Ridge which is, as I’ve said before, a suburb of Vancouver, I actually grew up in Vancouver. The Commercial Drive area, sometimes referred to as Little Italy, is one of many ethnic areas of Vancouver - places where you can go and it almost feels like you’ve travelled to a different part of the world.

I am a Grade 6 teacher and one of the field trips I do every year is take my students to Chinatown in Vancouver. I believe that experiencing other cultures in places like Chinatown or Commercial Drive is a wonderful experience - and not just for kids. Being around different cultures teaches tolerance and helps people to remember that there are other cultures than the mainstream one. Heck, it's hard to hate a person of a certain race or culture if you've sat down in a coffee bar on Commercial Drive, had an espresso, and had a conversation with several of the patrons.

The connection with scooters? The last minute or so of the video talks about the Vespa Club of Vancouver and shows some pretty cool scooters.

2 comments:

Combatscoot said...

I went to a bible college near Tacoma, WA. On one of my breaks, the Parents flew up, and we decided to visit Canada. Got lost in Vancouver and ended-up in Chinatown. Very interesting.
John

Dave Dixon said...

combatscoot
I love Chinatown - it's location is not particularly nice (right next to the Downtown Eastside - the poorest postal code in Canada) but it is an oasis of colour, noise and smells that are unique and wonderful.