Coming Home

This is the last photo from our trip. Not very exciting but neither is it the entire end. The epilogue to our trip involved frantically trying to find a place to live once we’d gotten back to Vancouver, and Yuki interviewing for jobs. The housing situation, while was stressful for a week, turned out exceptionally well and we’ve landed the best place either of us have ever lived. It’s an incredibly well-maintained building right near Metrotown but yet far enough down the block to not have the noise. It’s cheap for the space, across from a park, on the top floor and even comes with a balcony (North-facing). Oddly, it has coin laundry and the floor apparently transmits thumping to the suite below. By far the best part of our new dig is that we’re the first to live in it after complete renovations and we finally have a comfortable place to call home. We’re no longer in temporary housing knowing that we’ll be moving in 8 months time or so, nor are we with awkward roommates that make hanging out in the living room unlikely. Unlike university, we have a clean kitchen and an even cleaner washroom because it’s just us and that’s the way we keep it.

I didn’t think it would occur, but now that I’m working all day and have so little free time to myself in the evening, I look forward to coming home and reading a book. In fact, I’ve bought 7 books and borrowed 4 from the library since moving in, more than the single one I bought in all of University. In university, I wasn’t interested in being at home because I never made it more than a temporary shelter. Here, I want to make it nice and spend time around the neighbourhood — a new adventure as it were.

In addition to our new place, I went home to Vancouver Island for a few days. I think it’s important that after travelling, where ever you go, that you’re able to come home and find the natural beauty that is your own home. That’s why it’s totally possible to be a tourist at home. When I drove home on the island, I had a beautiful sunset which is rare because more often than not I drive the island highway in the rain. Because the summer’s been especially dry and long lasting, I had two glorious nights to go down to my hometown beach with my mom and take some fantastic pictures.

These aren’t landscapes like what you’d do on the road, they’re studies in colours. I haven’t been anywhere else where the colours of the sunset bring out so much life in the water, the mountains, and the sky, as in my own backyard beach.

We still have several mini-projects on the go and it seems like less and less time every day; so with this project now complete, we move onto the next.