One Year in BC - Gratitude

-
It's been a year since I picked up and moved out West. At first I thought it was going to be for only 4 months, and then I fell in love with Victoria :) It has been quite a set of adventures, building life up almost from complete scratch again. Everything may be unknown in life, but anything is possible!

I'm grateful for the ocean and the mountains of Washington in the distance, beer on the beach, and swing-dancing in just about every physically possible place in the city. Living with addicts and lunatics (the boarding house) and learning how to handspring over other human beings :) Living in a creepy house with echoing wooden floors. Not so nice, but a great place for a temporary dance studio.

From having one suit-case and nothing, I now have a job in a community of dear, sweet folk with quirky, endlessly entertaining students; finally, a cozy little home in Fernwood with a room-mate who is wise, positive, and adventurous (and a popcorn addict like myself).

Finally, dear Victoria, which seems to float in clouds of blossoms and be filled with laid-back friendly musicians and gardeners, and sailing ships coming in and out.

"Dwell on the beauty of life.  Watch the stars,
and see yourself running with them." ―Marcus Aurelius

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Year in the Coast Guard

-
Image
The idea of joining the Coast Guard was first planted during a wild and beautiful sail on a one-hundred year old boat, Ziska , that I helped bring home from Alaska to Washington in 2019. During this voyage, many distress calls came over the radio - especially in the north - and we heard the Coast Guard talk people through very difficult situations. It was comforting to know that the Coast Guard was close(ish) by. When we were further offshore and hit by rough weather, it was harder being out of range of help. After this trip, I started volunteering for the nearby Royal Canadian Marine Search and Rescue station, and we sometimes did training operations with the local Coast Guard station. This sparked my interest even more. I had been working for the provincial government for three years - great work with wonderful people - but after some big personal losses, I really felt the need for a change. I submitted my application to the Coast Guard and forgot about it till I got a phone call inv...
Read more

Operation "Spread the Wuuuuuv."

-
Image
Today, I decided to do something constructive. There is a certain reckless insanity that comes over a person after a very painful experience, so I decided to make the most of it and do something perhaps a little crazy. I made lots of Valentine's Day cards and gave them out to all the saddest looking people on Rideau street and in the mall downtown. It was fun! There was an old, depressed-looking hunchback (how much more pathetic does it get than that?) who shuffled by me, and I hid one in his bag when he wasn't looking. I gave another to a very fat lady who looked at me suspiciously, then realizing what it was, burst out laughing and yelled out her thanks. There was a skinny girl who looked like a bean-pole (correction: she looked more like an upright knitting needle—even a tape-worm would have abandoned her), who was crying her eyes out, and I gave her one too. I can't remember all of them, but I gave a couple out in a coffee shop, a number to people sitting alone in the m...
Read more

Victoria!

-
Image
Well it has been a while since I posted! I decided to try my luck in the lovely, funky city of Victoria until my money ran out. Here, I have had so many adventures that I'll have to write a book about it at some point :) The first few weeks I lived in a boarding house that would have been inspiration for a Dickens novel. My fellow in-mates (as I fondly think of them) were for the most part completely crazy, and I arrived once to find the police rummaging about the place and investigating a theft. At some point or other, I was pulled aside by almost every boarder, who warned and gossiped against each other: "Don't trust Bill," or "Never leave your door unlocked or Nancy will get in," and "Never make a deal with Tom." People's food was going missing, and at least one person was well, how to put this politely.....not entirely trustworthy, so I rigged up an alarm system for my bedroom door (I was quite proud of myself) to prevent against theft. ...
Read more