A life...that's ordinary?: April 2006

Monday, April 10, 2006

Canada

I've been in Canada for a month. I always knew I loved where I live. I always knew it was beautiful. But really, I wasn't aware to the fullest extent. BC, and in particular Northern Vancouver Island, is gorgeous. I can't believe how much I've missed it.
I've been pretty frickin busy this past month. I was tired after travelling. Backpacking is not a holiday, it's actual work. You're constantly tired, always on the move. I usually spent only two nights in any given city. For some reason travel always seemed to start around the time the sun came up. It was awesome, I'll do it again, but it was tiring. Needless to say I was looking forward to coming home to Canada for a month so I could relax.
Hah.
This past month I've had a grand total of 3 days where I havn't had something to do. I've been to 150 Mile House for the weekend, the Lower Mainland twice, Whistler for a day, logging with my Dad for a day in Woss, to a fly-in logging camp with my Mom for 4 days, and numerous trips down to Courtenay for various lunches. It's been great. I've taken a lot of pictures to show my students. It's good that I have been busy. I've visisted with tons of people, hung out with my parents and cuddled my cats.
We had a surprise 50th birthday party for my Dad. That was a lot of fun. I saw my grandparents and Aunt from Alberta who I hadn't seen in a really long time. A lot of my parents friends didn't even recognize me (due in large part to the stupid darkness of my hair).
Anyways, I won't bore people with the details of my month. I shall just provide pictures with captions. I will also update Vietnam when I have more time...which will probably be when I'm in Korea.

mmm Tim Hortons. How I've missed you

Krista and Bryan at the Voodoo

The Nanaimo crew sans Sal - Christine, Jasmine, Tara and Krista

Christine and Tara

Jasmine and me

The family out for dinner for Bryans birthday

the majority of M.A.S.K. - Maria, Shay and me

My dad and Leah doing the twist at his 50th party

My mom, Bryan and my Auntie Anne

Leah and Bryan dancing

me dancing with my Uncle Charlie

me, Uncle Charlie and Dad

Uncle Dave, Auntie Marleen, Uncle Kevin and Auntie Kathy

Grandma Lorrie and Auntie Rita

me on the Canyon View Trail beside the Campbell River

my Grandpa's house - on wood cutting day

Bryan at Grandpa's

Sugar begging for cake

Grandpa

the view from Grandpas

view from grandpas

me and Bryan on the wood cut/moving day in the back of Grandpas

Bryan and Uncle Doug in the trailer - Uncle Charlie driving

Me on the beach. If it wasn't a cloudy day you could clearly see the Coast Mountains on the Mainland. Taken about a 15 minute walk from my house

The beach looking towards Campbell River. Quadra Island on the right.

Me and my Grandpa. Taken at his house in Comox. Hornby Island in the background.

Auntie Marleen, Me, my Mom. Taken at the Foreshore Park in Campbell River. One of the harbours and Quadra Island behind us.

A shithawk on a rock

A Krista on a rock

Beach looking towards the Riv

Taken at a road-stop on the Sea to Sky Highway on our way back from Whistler

Gone to Whistler for the day

Blackcomb Mountain...Whistler is beside it. Taken from Whistler Village.

Canyon View Trail - Campbell River

Canyon View Trail

Krista, Ange and Maria - visiting Ange in Vancouver

my first baby - Kobe Bryant

my big boy - Simon James

...and the baby girl - Felicia Marie (yes my cats have middle names...there's a long story behind it)

The plane mom and I took to the camp

a view from the plane

view from the camp. the tugboat and the boom sticks

Mom in the plane

Me in the plane!!

a bear....very far away and that's where it shall stay

Vietnam and the remainder of SE Asia

Alright, alright. I suck at updating this thing. I know this. I'm sorry. Anyways.

I'm in Canada and have been since March 12. It's been good to be home however I havn't had much sitting on my ass time since I've been back. Travelling through SE Asia wasn't a holiday, it was almost work. I was tired when I got back home. I foolishly thought that once I got home I'd be able to relax. I was wrong. So far since I've been home I've been to Vancouver twice, 150 Mile House for the weekend, spent 4 days in a Northern fly-in logging camp and done more visiting than I ever have in such a condensed period. It's all been great though. I've seen people who I obviously hadn't seen in quite awhile. I caught up with relatives and friends and havn't complained (much) about my lack of rest time. I'll do that when I get to Korea.

My one recommendation for those planning on going to Canada for a visit. A month is not long enough if you've been gone for over a year and plan on being gone for another year plus. Give yourself 2 months. You won't be bored.

Ok, now it's time for the update. Which I've been dreading let me tell you. It's one of those things that you keep telling yourself you should do, but the longer you wait the bigger it becomes, so you keep putting it off cuz it'll take so damn long. I rushed through Vietnam. I didn't have time really to do updates there, mainly cuz I was having so much fun either sitting on the beach doing nothing or touring around. Vietnam therefore still has to be put on my blog. I was there for 2 weeks, that's a lot of information. I've also been back in Canada for 3 weeks and have done a lot of things....again, a lot of info. That's my excuse for putting this off. You all know how much I love excuses.

Here we go...Vietnam in a nutshell.

Boat with eyes in the Mekong Delta

me with very red hair in a canal off the Mekong Delta

rowin a boat in a cool hat

Mekong tour group

me and my pineapple in the floating market

Floating Market - Mekong Delta - Saigon

The cute little girl on our tourist boat in the floating market. She took my camera and kept taking pictures. She'd obviously done this before cuz she kept taking them, them pressing the review button, looking at them, deciding if she liked them and then getting me to delete them if they weren't good enough. Majorly cute.

Doreen, Sandra, Andreas, Yola and me at dinner in the tourist market - Saigon

Mui Ne

the beach in front of our guest house - looking north

the beach looking south

wind surfers

the fairy stream and the cows that pooed in it

our tour guide up the fairy stream, Linh

boats in the harbour - Mui Ne

Nha Trang and surrounding Islands

me and my elephant friend

the waterfall - on some random island off Nha Trang

me and some monkeys on monkey island - off Nha Trang

Halong Bay and Hanoi

boats in Halong Bay - the day was too foggy for us to go out...sucks to spend a day in Halong City the well-renouned "prostitution capital of Vietnam"