Travel diary... kamloops to vancouver and back again...
Headed to Vancouver back on Sunday July 4th in search of a place to live come August, and to meet up with my faculty at my new school in Richmond. Of course, enjoy the sights and sounds of the coast as well!
Drive down on the fourth was marred by holdups. Four stops for construction, a big slow down for holiday traffic trying to squeeze through the Coquihala toll booth, and two accidents. It should be explained to you all that my curse in life is line ups and long waits. For my sister, it's extreme clumsiness. For my brother, one might argue that it's car issues. For me, it's long line ups. Grocery store, movies, in the car, where ever. Pretty minor on the grand scale of things, and luckily, I'm laid back enough to accept my fate and wait in line.
So, sunday evening I rolled into town. First stop, Simon Fraser University. Stayed with Doug. We had the chance to do some catching up, have some barbecue, watch a movie--Super Troopers, a fantastic show for all those interested! Monday morning we went to the gym, had a bit of a run workout on the Terry Fox field up at SFU. I pretend to be a real university student for a few minutes. We all know I'm too dumb to actually make it into one of those schools, But hey, I can fake it for a while...
anyway, house hunting started on monday. And kept going, and going, and going... Turns out not much available to meet my needs! Closer to my school is good, and cheap rent is even better! By the end of the week, after looking through the multitudes of crappy apartments / basements suites / shared accommodations that are currently available for under $600.00 / month, I settled on a place at Main and 12th.
I'll be living in a two story character house, on the second floor. Nice view out my window across the city to the mountains, nice paint job, a couple of decent roomies. Old but charming, shall we say?
As for the rest of the week, I did this and that. Had a chance to catch up with friend Erica. We donated blood, then foolishly went to play soccer for a few hours in a pick-up game with some of her friends. That got whatever blood was left in my body a-pumpin! I spent some time at the beach, and visiting with an old roommate of mine, Sam.
It's been a few years since I've had a good look around vancouver! For example. I had some film to develop. I parked down on Broadway next to the McDonalds, which is now a hole in the ground, making way for some new condos. I took my film to First Foto, which is now down the block form where it was, then while I waited the half hour for my film (it's fast and cheap! And you get a free 6 x 9 enlargement! I recommend it!...product plug ending in 3...2...1), I headed down to Tokyo Joe's for some sushi, which isn't Tokyo Joe's anymore. Luckily, the Miso soup still kicks ass :)
For the nights I wasn't staying at Doug's, I crashed at UBC in my sister in law's--Dina--campus townhouse. ( moving from one school to the other with such callous disregard for tradition would surely make any self respecting UBC thunderbird cringe, and inversely make and SFU Clan fan want to spit on my grave, but whatever...) We had the chance to hang around, go for Mario's Gelati here, grab a bit to eat there, go for a walk, etc. Good times. I also had the chance to get to my campus and find out more about my program, and meet my director. Seems like it'll be a challenging few years, but good ones none the less! The campus is a bit of a high school, but oh well, function over style I guess!
Anywho, I am back in Kamloops now, Dina and I having both come up in my truck. The curse struck us before we left town--an eight car pile-up on the port mann held us in line for a while, but from there it was smooth sailing. So, I have a new place to live, waiting for me in August when I get out of edmonton, and I had the chance to reacquaint myself with an old flame called Vancouver :)
Two more days in Kamloops, then it's back to edmonton! Ta for now!
