Letting work know...

Handing in my letter of resignation went a lot better then I thought it would. I have enjoyed my work for 4 years and to think that I only have 16 more working days is crazy. I gave my verbal resignation on Wednesday and this morning I handed in my formal letter.

I know people will miss me but they will slowly get over the fact that I am leaving and I'll fade into the background and become one of the ones that once worked for the Hub.

The manager has asked that I keep in touch and Beth will keep everyone updated with a board of my travels so I guess it gives me something to look forward to writing a mini-newsletter with some photos to share with those that are not having super awesome great adventures like I will be having.

It is also a relief now to have this formalized as now I don't have to worry about everyone finding out that I am leaving.

We leave to pick my mom up from the airport soon and we're heading to Powell River tomorrow morning on the first ferry so I'll post again soon. Taking my camera. Hope the weather is good.

44 days.

The weekend of fun

This weekend was pretty darn awesome and I was quite busy. I love being busy and I love when it involves my friends. Also helped that most of this weekend involved amazing food.

On Friday I went to Chongqing on Commercial with Jon, Michelle and Shawn. We shared some delicious peanut butter wontons. Okay, they aren't actually called that but thats what I call them and thats what matters. We had some spicy fried green beans, chicken chow mein, and some chinese broccoli. All so delicious.

My peanut butter wonton.

Saturday was a super fun day downtown by the art gallery where Earlin, Jon, Sondra, Dan and I took in the Dine Out Food Trucks that were set up. There was some amazing looking food happening.

 The Baja Fish Taco from Tacofino. I also had their Chocolate Diablo cookie which was so amazing. Wish I had bought a dozen.

 We enjoyed the Dougie Dog truck where I tried the Charlie Mac Dog and the LA Mexicana Dog. Jon and Earlin happily posing for me.

 The homemade Butterscotch Rootbeer from Dougie Dog, so good!

 My LA Mexicana Dog, I loved the spicy sausage, jalapenos, guacomole and the bacon.

 Earlin, Jon, Sondra and Dan. My fellow food adventurers.

As part of the Hot Chocolate Festival happening in Vancouver we enjoyed the Peppermint patty from Bel Cafe. It was very tasty but very rich. It came with a really yummy cookie.

On Sunday I attended a very lovely brunch at my coworker's Jess' place. She fed us a delicious breakfast of bacon, pancakes, eggs and sausages. It was all so good. 

My other coworker Michelle was there as well and after brunch we painted our nails. Which is always a lot of fun. Jess and her roommate have a lot of nail polish. Like A LOT.

I had a really great weekend and was very happy that I was bale to spend so much time with my friends. I am very excited as I learned that Jess is going to be travelling to Spain in a few months and I hope to plan some time to spend with her travelling somewhere.

48 days left.

It's a Tuesday...

Staring at maps, exchanging Iceland kroner into Canadian, typing up more lists...

There is a lot to plan and a lot of adventure going to happen over the next couple of months.

I am really interested in climbing Mount Snowdon in Wales. It is the highest mountain in Wales and located in Snowdonia National Park. A thing that draws me towards wanting to climb this mountain is my mother has climbed it when she was younger and on a family trip to Europe. I wonder where she keeps her certificate of the climb as I remember seeing it a few times growing up.   I haven't climbed many mountains and look forward to this one. It seems to be a good place to sit and have lunch and enjoy the spectacular views if it happens to be a clear day.

I have planned out a little more, just barely. I think it is more of a faint guideline that I may trace. After three days in London if I do not end up somewhere else with some new friends in some direction I will head South West. I plan to visit  Brighton before heading to Dorchester to see the Durdle door and then upwards to Stonehenge, onto Bath and then into Wales to eventually get to Liverpool to visit Jamie.

Cannot wait -  54 days.

Movie I watched today...

I watched the Book Thief which is based on the novel by Markus Zusak. The book is about a young girl named Leisel Meminger who is given up by her mother to a foster family. The story is based in Germany prior to World War II and tells the story of how her interactions with her new family, her neighbourhood and the young Jew who comes to hide in their basement. As the title of the book reveals, Leisel steals a few books.

I really enjoyed reading the book and am glad I was finally able to watch the movie version of it. I thought they did a very good job. The scenes in the book that they left out in the movie was not very noticeable luckily.

61 more days!

Things I love...

Football/Soccer whatever you call it. I love it. I haven't been able to watch as many games as I used to in the past and I'm sad to say its been ages since I've had a kick about. I had played soccer from a young age playing all different positions and at different levels. I played with the rep and school teams travelling to different towns to play.

As I grew older I began to watch soccer on TV more and learn about the big teams in Europe and around the world. Most of the girls I knew didn't like watching soccer on television, they preferred playing it. I knew a few guys who watched it but none of them were my close friends. I turned to the internet and found friends there. The internet is full of people who love the sport and are passionate about their teams and the players.

I know that loving many different teams seems to be a no no but when I was younger there wasn't any restriction on it. I was just a silly Canadian girl from a small town and I hope no one who reads this post will view me as any less of a soccer fan for not having strict loyalty to one team when I was growing up.

70 days

I've hit the 70 day mark. Need to get my things sorted. Lots of clothes to do away with and belonging to rehome. I had a lovely weekend with many friends and many laughs.

Delicious chai hot chocolate from the Last Crumb on Main St.

Another amazingly tasty perogie dinner at the Ukranian church.

Meeting Charlie Brown at a food filled evening at Matt and Catherine's. 

I am very lucky to how supportive my friends are of my big adventure. 

The day has come!

I got my visa!!! So excited. Cannot believe that I will only  be in Canada for 73 more days. 2 years in the UK. I don't even know what I am doing. I should get my visa in the mail in two days I believe but could be more due to the weekend. 

I don't know if anyone actually reads my blog. I am sure it will be family when I am actually over in Europe but to anyone else out there, do say hi. 

I cannot express so how much I relied on The Aussie Nomad for help on getting the Youth Mobility Scheme visa. It can be very confusing on the UK Border Agency website and he does a wonderful job of breaking it down.

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Year everyone! I hope 2014 is very good to all of us. New Years resolutions have been something I have always ignored but I plan to spend the next few days figuring out a few for myself.

1. Communicate with my family more.
2. Travel to 10 new countries.
3. Learn more history.
4. Explore whats around me.
5. Gain more confidence in myself.

I hope this year is a great one. There will be a lot of new adventures.