Halcyon Days

TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) was amazing.  It's funny how much you can learn about English that you never really knew.  Grammar, for instance, is crazy.  Future perfect progressive?  Past perfect?  Sounds like weird sci fi movies.  Luckily, classmates were more than fantastic.  Pirate detectives?  SLCKLCKS?  Team racially oppressed?  Thanks for the good times!  TEECHA!!!

Happy official celebration birthday Carmen and Serena!  Man we're getting old.  Car games are still fun though, as is waiting for Mike at the photocopy place.  SEX!

Snowboarding was incredible!  Whistler was awesome with powdery snow; lucky for too, since I wiped out like crazy from lack of practice.  The drive up was long and icy, but totally worth it.  Thanks Mon for being so patient!

States shopping!!  Haha, thanks for belting out Glee songs with me Cass!  I still think my lyrics are better for Just the Way You Are. 

Trio Lunch:  Last Quarterly Meeting for a while!  Thanks for being you, Jade and Ben.  Haha, don't worry Ben, I'll be back.  It won't be nearly as fun for Jade to make fun of you without me around.  :D 

Chapters/Japadog:  Thanks for coming with me even though you had a bad day Kels!  Haha, the japadog hopefully made it better?  And the frantic scramble to check out books at Chapters??  

Of course these were just the big things.  There are so many things that I'm grateful for...  Thank you each and every one you guys!  

UP NEXT:

-last SJA night

-Wednesday ramen

-Thursday dinner 

-Friday!

-packing...groan...

Gastronomic Nirvana

Pied a Terre - fois gras, tenderloin medallion with anchovy butter, fries, creamed spinach, tomato

The Secret Garden - High tea; tea sandwiches, cakes

Kintaro - Cheese ramen

Thanks Kels, Cass, Athena, and Michelle!

New Beginnings

So, this is it; one of the last steps to leaving Vancouver, Home, for good.

Hopefully, this blog will help me keep some of my sanity in Beijing. At the very least, you'll hear interesting tales about my getting arrested for beating up (or getting beat up by) some guy on the subway.

So, thoughts about leaving:

1) Today, driving home on the highway from Delta, it was raining while the sky up ahead was a beautiful azure blue with the whitest marshmallow clouds. It was beautiful. Fall in Vancouver is beautiful. Hell, Vancouver is beautiful. To leave Vancouver seemed impossible merely 2 years ago, before I left to study, but in the words of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky: "The Earth is the cradle of mankind, but one cannot remain in the cradle forever."

2) Having dinner with friends and simply hanging out is something I've taken for granted. Knowing there's a end date now makes everything so much more tangible. The laughs, the jokes, and wholly comfortable silences...

3) The air. Seriously, go outside a take a deep breath of air. Drink in the delicious coldness of it. I wish I could bottle it up and take it with me to Beijing...

4) Kudos to people who have left. Though one can always visit Vancouver again, to leave indefinitely is...terrifying. Thrilling, but terrifying.