Couch-surfing everyone!
Well, dear readers, it’s time bring you up to speed on the beginning of my adventure. Here is a recap of what I’ve been up to since regular classes ended in Kamloops.
Wednesday the 22nd was the day of my summer exams for political science. Of all the material to study for my Multilateral & Foreign Policy midterm, I focused on the wrong aspects and I went into the final with a very substandard mark. In the end, I scraped up a mere C in that class and can only hope it won’t haunt me too badly in the years to come. My other course in International Politics went much more smoother and I earned an A-. The exams were basically back-to-back 3-hour exams with only one hour in-between. I was so intense writing them that my fore-finger was sore for the following 5 days… yikes!
The 23rd was a crazy day of driving around Kamloops trying to gather up all my belongings. My ex still had a fair bit of my things; more than I’d realized. Steve purchased my furniture so he’ll have something when he starts working on his business degree at TRU in the winter semester (January 2005). A friend from school graciously offered to store it for him, so I moved it into storage for Steve to retrieve. Thanks so much Jill! By the day’s end I was exhausted, but starting to feel good.
Moving day was June 25th and the plan was to leave around noon — early afternoon at worst. Inevitability life hands out unexpected circumstances and I’ve become pretty skilled at improvising. I managed to send four boxes of my things to my brother—only 80 lbs worth—which represents almost everything I haven’t given away. Amid a spectacular lightning storm, Bryn drove me away from Kamloops with his car overflowing; we left town at 10:30 PM despite our expected lunchtime departure.
By the time I woke up at his parents house, people were arriving for his annual family BBQ. Bryn, his parents, and siblings all invite almost everyone they know for a grand bash and see who shows up. I don’t know if they ever got a final estimate of the head count, but around 150 people at its height wouldn’t be far off. Personally, it was a chance to reconnect with people I hadn’t seen in years, along with friends who I had missed terribly. By 9 AM, I was one of the final 3 who decided to finally go to sleep; the great thing is that some people were beginning to wake up, and thus the party can be easily considered a non-stop affair for 2 days. Matt burned some rubber at 6 AM when too many people piled into his car for a breakfast run, and one tent received a surprise rainstorm courtesy of some industrial farm-type sprinklers that a few enterprising folks might have setup among the tents—I swear my role was minor, but man that was funny… especially when he came out, grabbed the sprinkler, and chased our merry group down the road. Good times!
After the party, Shaun’s couch became my residence for about a week. Although we’ve known each other since grade three, it’s been a long time since we’ve spent that kind of time together and it was really great for me.
I then made a switch to Tracy and Warren’s place, where a room with a bed and desk were made available for me. With all this movement alongside thoughts of being the emcee at Jared’s wedding in 2 weeks, it’s been difficult to focus on the summer statistics course I’m taking through distance education. I swear it didn’t seem like so much when I was planning it a few months ago.
Monday the 11th I will grab a bus back to Kamloops to meet with an official from TUT. This will give me a little face time to ask a few questions and touch base with Ryan, my fellow companion for the year abroad. When I return to Vancouver later in the week I will continue planning my part in the wedding and trying to make some headway into that statistics course. Before I know it, I’ll be on a plane transitioning to my new life in China.