BY MARC WEBER
Last year, one of the first games I was playing, I saw a Bolivian flag from the field and after the game I went and talked to them and we became friends. They've been coming to every game. Now I need like 10-15 tickets for the Latin guys -- some from Bolivia, some from Panama, Honduras, some Mexicans.
Just because of the language, it's nice. Last year, I used to speak Spanish on the team with Eduardo [Sebrango] and now nobody.
When I went home after the season, I didn't leave my stuff in storage, I left it in their places. They also cook Latin food and I get invited over for dinners and birthdays. I went the other day to a Mexican restaurant and it was awful. Very, very bad. Small food and really expensive, so not a good feeling.
If I go out, there's a Latin night at the Red Room and salsa at Boss on Richards Street.
Diego, goalkeeper, Brazil
(Speaking through Charles Gbeke, Whitecaps forward and part-time interpreter.) I'm getting used to it here. It helps a lot that Charles and his wife are here. I go over to their place and we cook and talk about life in Brazil a little bit. It's good to have like a family here.
Most of the time though I just stay at home and chill. I don't eat out, I cook every time -- rice, chicken, pasta. It's not the same as my mother's food, her food is very good, but I try.
I'm on the Internet a lot -- Skype, MSN -- talking to people back home. Otherwise I watch TV to try and learn English. Mostly I watch soccer and comedians.
Marlon James, forward, St. Vincent and the Grenadines
I don't think about that stuff much. I'm a guy who's basically focused on the job at hand, I came here to play professional football. But whenever I can get to the beach that helps me. I've always been surrounded by water, so when I go out I often go to Kits Beach because it's just down the street. But it's a pity we can't get into the water [read: too cold] because when you go to the beach on the islands you're always in the water.
If I eat out, I try to eat as much seafood as I can. I've cooked a fish soup with dumplings and sweet potatoes for some of the players and they liked it. I like the Thai restaurants in Vancouver.
Dever Orgill, forward, Jamaica
I don't really miss much because it's always good to learn new things. It's good to be home, too, but I feel really good that I was able to step out and live in a new environment.
I used to hang out with Nick Addlery [Jamaica] and Wesley Charles [St. Vincent and the Grenadines], and now it's me and these guys who came on trial for the residency team from Jamaica. We played U20 together so we know each other and it's really good.
There's a Jamaican restaurant that Wesley and Nick and I used to go to a lot and we became friends with the chef. We call him Bounty. He's a cool guy and comes to some of the games.
Right now I'm living with a family so they do all the cooking, but I'm moving back to the apartment where some of the guys live. I've invited some of the residency guys over before and cooked Jamaican food for them, and I'll do that again.
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