Sunday Update

Hi all! This has been a busy week for me. I've done a lot of traveling around B.C. and even ventured into Washington State. Here is now a week in review:

Sunday: Canada Day. I celebrated this in Kamloops with my uncle, aunt, and their friends. I tried bannock for the first time and got my photo taken with a Mountie. It was very cool to spend Canada Day in a part of Canada I had never been in before!

Trying some bannock in Kamloops

Monday: I travelled back to the Lower Mainland on the Greyhound. It was a stressful trip. The bus I wanted to go on was full, and so was the next one (which was the last one of the day). So I had to buy a standby ticket and hope that not everyone who had bought a ticket showed up. Thankfully, I was able to get a spot on the bus. It was a slow trip because of the traffic back to Vancouver after the long weekend. It was one of those trips where I wonder if I really like traveling as much as I think I do!

Tuesday: This is what can be described as a typical day here for me. I woke up a little bit after six (I really like waking up early), and went to my classes in the morning, then went to the gym before lunch. After lunch, I had a couple more classes before finishing for the day and skyping with a friend from back east. Then, it was supper time. We eat supper communally and have a system of buying food, making food, cleaning up etc. So that is always a joy, to spend some time with others here. After supper, there was a speaker from Wycliffe NextGen, and I went to learn more about that. You can find out more at http://www.wycliffenextgen.com/
Then, I got back to my room and was going to go to bed when the fire alarm rang. This happens quite regularly, probably about once a week.

Wednesday:  This was another typical day here, except I played Ultimate before supper. Then, after supper was quite different- it was Independence Day, so a few of us girls went across the border to Bellingham, Washington to watch the fireworks. We ate kettle corn, walked along the waterfront, admired the rising moon and oohed and aahed and the spectacular fireworks. It was late getting back, but it was a wonderful evening for the first Fourth of July I've spent in the U.S.

Fourth of July on Bellingham Bay

Thursday: A friend from Nova Scotia currently living in Edmonton was in the area to visit family and I got to hang out with her Thursday evening! It was truly enjoyable. However, by the time I arrived back at the dorms at 9:30pm, I still had quite a bit of work to do on my assignment that was due Friday. There were over 200 sentences in a "mystery language" and their English translations, and we had to create a lexicon of the language. Clearly a daunting task. Four of us gathered in my room and suffered late into the night together.

View on the Sea-to-Sky Highway

Friday: I had a lovely Friday. I tried a deep fried Mars bar for the first time at a pub in the quaint town of  Fort Langley, and also watched as much of the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice as I could without falling asleep (that is a LONG movie). Very nice night!

Saturday: I saw a part of B.C. I have never seen before: the Sea-to-Sky Highway. We drove to Squamish where a bunch of people from school were having a camping trip. We stopped at the stunning Shannon Falls on the way, and I spent the afternoon exploring the forest near the campsite (did you know British Columbia has a temperate rainforest?), and relaxing on the shores of Brohm Lake, and going out in the canoe as well. After a delicious supper over the campfire, we returned back to school. What a delightful day!