You can take the girl outta Vancouver...

but you can't take Vancouver outta the girl. 


Proof:

• I still miss salmon like crazy and once a month splurge on smoked salmon at the Austrian deli, one of the only places in town where you can get this item. 
• I almost never have an umbrella on me, even when I should. 
• I can name at least half a dozen different kinds of sushi rolls (Koreans can name, like two). 
• I point out Vancouver landmarks in most Hollywood films, and piss off the people who are sitting by me, actually trying to follow the plot. 
• I consider t-shirts, jeans, and sweatpants appropriate articles of clothing to don to work, to much disapproval from my hot Korean colleagues in short skirts and high heels. 
• I don't think a city is worth my time if it doesn't have mountains or a large body of water nearby (with 37 mountains, a river, and an ocean/sea, Seoul is winning with flying colours). 
• I consider anything below 0 degrees Celsius freezing cold. 

♪ And the colored girls go doo do doo do... ♫

A friend of mine posted a link on facebox about how Aishwarya Rai is planning to sue Elle magazine because her photos on the front cover and in the article inside the December issue were altered to make her skin colour look way lighter than it actually is in real life. And apparently, a few weeks after the issue came out, people all over India were outraged that this Western magazine would do this to an Indian actress. Read the article below (what my friend posted), then read my response.

http://www.change.org/petitions/view/elle_magazine_apologize_for_trying_to_whiten_indian_skin

My response: "I'm on the same page as you [insert friend's name here]. What Elle did is disturbing but people in India are in no position to throw a big fit about this. People in countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka etc., have been putting women with light skin colours in pedestals for centuries. Try to find one actress on Bollywood whose skin colour is dark. Everyone notices that Kajol Devgan has somehow made it with a darker skin tone, but check out her photos. She's still 10 shades lighter than me.

People from these countries have no right to suddenly stand up for Aishwarya Rai and pretend they give a crap about portraying Indian women realistically when they've been on the same "lighten your skin colour" bandwagon since the beginning of dawn. If India has always tried to lighten the skin colour of the women that appear in Indian magazines, movies, billboards, what's to say Elle didn't do it to keep with India's way of doing things? And if Elle did it because of other reasons, i.e., the West's own infatuation with lighter skin tones, then India of all countries, is in no position to criticize. I like my morning coffee sans hypocrisy, thanks.

-End of rant from a dark toned girl who had to live (and deal with these issues) in that part of the world-

ps- I've come across several articles that have stated that the whole "Aishwarya suing Elle" ordeal is a total rumour, which makes this whole situation even more ridiculous. The article below goes into more detail about how Aishwarya is not, and was never, planning to sue."

http://divanee.com/2010/12/27/aishwarya-rai-dragged-into-skin-whitening-row-with-elle-india/

Fun facts of the day:  a) Zenith Bose does not actually drink coffee. 

                               b) Zenith Bose does not actually hate that part of the world.