Finally! Departure day has arrived and I am off to explore far off places, some of which I thought I'd only experience through Instagram and Pinterest. I'm overwhelmed by the reality of it all. I knew I wanted to do another extensive trip shortly after I graduated from CDA school, though I wasn't quite sure what that would look like. I thought I would have to leave behind my life in Kelowna and start from scratch upon my return. Thankfully I've had a few key players fill my position at work and take over my rent while I'm away, bit by bit, things continued to fall into place. Ultimately, I'll be travelling solo, but I've wrangled friends and family from around the world to join me for the majority of the 4 months!
I catch myself with tears in my eyes as my heart is exuding with joy, just so grateful as I sit here in disbelief of this incredible opportunity for such an adventure, but also overwhelmed with gratitude of the people I've been blessed to do life with. As The Big Yellow Taxi song says, "you don't know what you've got till it's gone".
Being away for a large period of time has it's downsides too, like skipping most of the competitive ultimate season, missing friends weddings, as well as the best part of the year in the Okanagan! But I have been constantly reminded that I'll be making memories and going on adventures that most people will never experience in their lifetime. Winnie the Pooh said it best: "How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."
All that to say, I'm currently en route to Athens, Greece, where I'll spend a week touring around the cyclades with one of my dearest friends, NET trammates and favourite people around! Stay tuned!
I know, it's been ages since I've posted. It's not that I've had a lack of things to say, just a lack of creative juices to form those thoughts and feelings into sentences. So I figured I'd ease back into it for my first post of the year, might as well have some fun. I used to love doing questionnaires in high school, so it's time for a throwback!
This one is called "Fun with Fours"
Four names I go by:
1. Silky Smooth
2. Silks
3. Silky Lady
4. Silken
Four places I've lived
1. Kamloops
2. Saskatoon
3. Sydney, Australia
4. Kelowna
Four things I love to watch on TV (or Netflix)
1. Grey's Anatomy
2. Gilmore Girls
3. Suits
4. Prison Break
Four places I've visited:
1. Europe
2. Domimican Republic
3. Mexico
4. Australia
Four things I love to eat:
1. Quesadillas, fajitas and anything Mexican
2. Butter chicken/curry!
3. Sushi
4. Chicken stirfry
Four favorite drinks:
1. Water
2. Chocolate Milk
3. Earl Grey Tea
4. Pina Coladas
Four places you want to visit:
1. Iceland
2. Fiji
3. Greece
4. Brazil
Four favorite sports:
1. Ultimate
2. Soccer
3. Hockey
4. Mmm... volleyball?
Four things you wish you got to do more of:
1. Travel
2. Snowboard
3. Dance
4. See my friends/family who live far away
Four favorite games:
1. CATAN
2. Ticket to Ride
3. Bohnanza
4. Bang!
Four things most people don't know about you:
1. I still have my baby Christmas tree up. Yes, it's February, I know. I like the lights, okay!?
2. I hit ice while driving and plowed down a Crosswalk sign a bit ago...
3. I spontaneously dyed my hair red yesterday.
4. I've watched 12 seasons of Grey's Anatomy in 4 months. I'm not proud of it.
Through all the ups and downs of this semester, it is finally coming to a close and Christmas is fast approaching... or at least that's the word on the street. My life lacks the bright, exuberant lights, the random collection of ornaments gathered from years past, having my socks become sopping wet from stepping in puddles of melted snow, homemade sausage rolls roasting in the oven, apricot brandy shots, the toasty feeling of warmth coming from the crackling fire, and, of course, being surrounded by people who are close to my heart - these things, in my mind, are synonymous with the Christmas season, though I can make some of them happen, others are out of my hands. If only you acquired your deepest longings by sheer desire. Well, this morning one of those desires came true, after waiting for what feels like an eternity.
Do you ever feel like you fit in so well, but yet, not at all? By now I've lived in a few different cities; from the mountains to the prairies, from Canada to Australia, from my hometown to it's rival city, from the familiar to the unfamiliar. It's so different every time. I love the adventure and excitement of new places, but starting over in each place has it's challenges too. There always seems to be one vital piece of the pie missing. As much as I try to fill that void, it remains vacant... until I move to a new city and it is filled, while a different piece then lies empty. Perhaps I have an unrealistic idea of reality, but being aware of that is better than pretending everything is perfect.
You've probably heard the phrase "bloom where you are planted." As relevant as that is, if the sun doesn't shine where you are planted, you're not going to grow. Sometimes you have to be transplanted to reach your full potential. I'm no botanist, but maybe you are blooming in some areas, but are wilting in others, perhaps as you grow those areas will reach sun too. I was never very good at analogies... so, moving on...
Although I feel many things have simply fallen into place this year, there are other aspects of my life that really seem to be lacking. God doesn't necessarily allow us to have "perfect" lives, if that were the case, there would be much less room to broaden our horizons as we'd just sit in our comfort zone. So here I am, learning that the easy way will likely leave you stagnant in the long run. Challenge yourself. Get out there and do something that scares you. Take a leap of faith. Have courage. Love life as you go.
Over the past couple weeks my life has changed fairly drastically. I moved to Kelowna, and coming from their rival city, obviously I got razzed about that quite a bit. On departure day, I left home in the early afternoon, but after filling up my car with petrol, my poor little Etsy decided she didn't wanna start back up again. Yup. It could have been worse. Luckily for me, I have two of the most loving, caring parents out there, who graciously came to my rescue, let me borrow their car for the week and got my car towed to the mechanic. You could say it was eventful day!
I began school, studying to become a Certified Dental Assistant. Learning to be a student again has been a much easier transition than I imagined. On my first day we got to do a scavenger hunt, considering me and the other two girls in my group were super competitive, we won! We got prizes and everything, I am now the proud owner of a chic, black, tic tock clock that graces the presence of my bathroom. I know, I'm pretty lucky ;) We also won a bunch of stuff that'll come in handy in the clinic, like gloves and masks! On that first day, I learned how to use a combination lock... TO MY VERY OWN LOCKER!!! You're probably thinking "what's so exciting about a locker..." well, my friend, if you had never had a locker before you would probably be pretty stoked too!Y'know how in the movies when they're hanging out in the hallway, and they slide down their lockers and just sit and hang out? Yeah. I get to do that now.
During the rest of the week they crammed as much info into us as possible. It felt like my brain was going to explode. We only had two classes the first couple days, so we'd have 3.5 hours of each class. 7:30am - 4pm. By the time the weekend rolled around, I just wanted to sleep. But, ironically, as we were learning all about infection prevention and disease control, I got sick. Just a cold, but after learning all about various bacteria and what those little buggers are doing to you, I felt like a walking cloud of contamination. I was comforted to know others in my class had similar experiences over the weekend.
In other news, my new place is in the most prime location. I live a 15 minute walk to school, but only 2 minutes from the beach! You can even rent water tricycles, kayaks and paddle boards! How epic. Hoping to try those out at some point.
Ha, someone asked me the other day if I've met any boys since I moved here. Well, being in a class of 24 girls, you could tell me there were no boys in Kelowna and I would probably believe you.
When I was fourteen I to travelled to Europe with my family for the ultimate summer vacation. During that time I fell in love with the excitement of it all: the architecture, the variations in food, the culture, the unknown... but most intensely - the people. I met many of my aunts, uncles and cousins in Holland for the first time. Every gothic cathedral, local cafe, and theme park was far more enjoyable because of the people we shared those experiences with. My dad's cousin also offered to be our tour guide on a trip to Paris, and, if you've seen my bedroom, you'd know this was a dream come true. The moment the Eiffel Tower came into view, I just melted. Once I returned home every single one of the 20+ mini replicas in photo, painting, keychain, clothing, and figurine form that graced my room were now little reminders that triggered memories I will treasure forever. But the thing I missed more than anything were the beautiful people who became such close friends during those 5 weeks abroad.
Well, here we are, three months after leaving Australia and the feels are about the same as my 14 year old self. Every conversation, every song, every moment back in Canada triggers a memory from those 7 months I spent overseas. I left a piece of my heart there, and now I'm left to mourn the loss of the adventure that has been. A plethora of amazing things happened in my life during the course of the past year, many of which include meeting some the most genuine, kind and caring people who became some of my favourite people in the world. I mentioned once before "The great is the enemy of the the good", though at the time I'm not so sure I understood the depth of that quote. Now, my life is good, I'm moving to a new city in three days, starting school (Uni) and celebrating my 23rd birthday in four days, the excitement of the unknown is at my fingertips, but some of the greatest days of my life so far happened while I was in Australia.
People are going to start thinking I'm crazy when I randomly burst out laughing or a tear rolls down my cheek outta no where. Well, if you had experienced what I experienced, and you felt what I felt, you would know that Mama Ng makes the best curry in the world, I have the biggest couple crush on Chris and Jess, my abs are the cause of laughing till it hurts with Mae, spontaneity, adventure and exhilarating are synonymous for hangouts with Pip, playing Catan with JinJin never gets old, watching Step Up with Nat is the best way to spend a night in, Tom makes a fantastic florist, Steve throws top notch house parties.
After getting a necessary full nights sleep, I had the privilege of attending the NET Canada Thanksgiving Mass and Banquet! To be honest, I purposely booked my flight so that I would make it in time for this event. When talking with Kandace's future sister-in-law, Julia (who works on NET Staff) the night before, she kept mentioning various people I know and love so dearly, people I totally didn't realize I'd get to see the next day!
Also, there are perks and downsides to having lost luggage. The downsides are pretty obvious, but the perks! Getting to raid everyone elses closets!! =D Kandace brought me heaps of clothes from her place, but I also borrowed a couple articles of clothing from friends we were staying with #girlshousehold! So I was loving that, especially since I'd been wearing the same few dresses, singlets, shorts and everything else for the past 8 months, new clothes was incredibly delightful! Thankfully, after three days my bag was found and returned - Praise God!
Ottawa was my first home away from home. Although I never actually lived there, I spent much time there my first year out of high school while I was on NET. I loved revisiting my favorite places downtown and discovering new ones! Kandace decided to surprise me by going to an Ottawa Outlaws pro ultimate game! I was extra excited cause my buddy Mike, who I played with for a bit back home, is now on the team! It was a beautiful hot day too, had a blast hanging with Kandi and Nic.
I spent the week in Barry's Bay hanging with the two love birds, helping with wedding prep and just basking in their presence! Was great quality time before everyone else showed up!
Before we knew it the wedding was upon us, it had been gloomy and rainy for days, but on the day of the wedding it had cleared up and the sun was poking through the big fluffy clouds. What a surreal moment when Kandace walked down the isle, she was glowing. The pure, holy and sincere love between the two of them and God was so evident, they will do great things! I felt especially privileged to be apart of the bridal party and spend the entire day with them! When it came time for pictures, we didn't have a venue in mind, so as we were driving along in our caravan of vehicles, we pulled into the driveway of some random house, Nic hopped out and asked the home owner if we could take photos in their yard (that's the ultimate complement on your landscaping, I'd say!). Great idea, we got epic pictures and had a blast while we were at it!
Dinner and speeches were both delightful, but the dance was even better. Half way through the first dance, a couple of the groomsmen whipped out a chair, jug of water, bowl and towel. As the music was building, Kandace sat down and Nic washed her feet - the ultimate sign of service, as Jesus washed his disciples feet at the Last Supper. The beauty of it all brought immense emotion to many, it was so touching. Gah! I love them more and more all the time! #couplecrushing
Beautiful wedding, beautiful couple. I am so incredibly blessed to have this portrait of sacrifice, service and love to look up to. Can't wait for their future together! Plus I get to brag to everyone that Nic Carvalho is my brother-in-law! Ha!
