2009-01-21 - 5:37 p.m.
Well. It sure has been a long time since the last update. The reason for that is that I've not done anything, really for the last month. I've been on vacation, and making the most of it! I was back at my parents house, which was awesome, and Dad was on holidays for most of the time that I was home, so I got to hang out with him a lot. The weather, like the rest of Canada, was cold and snowy, so it was nice to not have to go out in it. I never enjoy snow as much as when I'm inside, watching it. I did get re-acquainted with my snow shoveling skills, but I don't mind shovelling when I know that it's only for a few weeks, and not six months.
All my siblings were home for Christmas. It surprised me how much we all snapped back into our old roles as soon as we were all there. An example: Anne, who just moved back to Canada from Wales, has a boyfriend in the UK. Rather than accept this news like the mature adults that we all are, my youngest sister and I proceeded to give her boyfriend a nickname, and rushed to answer the phone when he called. Just like when we were in junior high. The funny thing is that she reacted just like she was in junior high, which made the whole thing worth doing, from my point of view!
Since I had an extra two weeks off in January (the school offers a few condensed courses during those weeks, which I did not take) I spent the second week vi sting my old travel buddy Jesse in Edmonton. Anyone who followed this blog during my trip to Europe probably knows more than they ever wanted to about Jesse. Anyway, I've been friends with him for years, and he got married this summer. This was my first time seeing him since. His wife, Colleen is really nice, and she kept cooking us breakfast. She was a little confused, however, since Jesse and I like to sit around and read (which is mostly what we did in Europe as well, now that I come to think of it) and Colleen couldn't figure out why we weren't doing more stuff. Different people interact in different ways, I suppose, and Jesse and I interact by not interacting.
While I was in Edmonton, I went with my brother Tim to an Oilers game. I haven't been to an NHL game in a long time, but Tim had tickets, so I snatched the opportunity. I had been to two Oilers games in my life, one when I was a kid, and once in high school. I had never seen the Oilers win a game, or even score a goal. I figured that the third time must be the charm, and I was right! The Oilers won 3 to 2 against the Blues. A very good game, and wonderful to see them score, finally.
I spend last weekend in Victoria, having a last gasp of vacation before school started again. Jeff and Kirsten, who are always so awesome, let me stay with them. It was a nice, chill sort of time. I went to the Cathedral on Sunday, since I haven't been there since I started school. It was really nice to see everyone there. Coming back to Victoria, I had way too much luggage. I had a huge (and heavy!) backpack, a shoulder back, a small duffel bag, and a plastic bag. It was one of the new ferries, so we had to board the long way around. Once on board, I wanted to find the Pacific Coach Lines desk, so I wouldn't have to take the city bus with all my stuff. I wandered around the entire main deck, brushing people with my stuff the whole time, until I finally found out that the desk was upstairs. I struggled up the stairs, only to find a huge line. I waited and waited in line, the backpack digging in more and more, and the plastic bag beginning to disintegrate. Finally I got a ticket, and since there were no more seats on that deck, struggled back down, and finally found somewhere to collapse. I distributed the contents of the by now almost non existent plastic bag amongst my other luggage, and sat to wait.
The weather in Victoria was awesome, sunny and beautiful, but about half way across the strait, we hit a fog bank that continued all the way to UBC! I was glad not to take the city bus, with the fog, and all my stuff. The PCL took me to the bus depot, and I decided to ignore the expense, and took a cab back to school. It was definitely the right choice, as I don't know how long I could have carried my stupid bags.
And now I'm back, and mostly settled in. School has started, and looks like it will be more papers this term, and more work overall, but I guess that's how it goes. None of it looks incredibly difficult, but rather interesting, and lots of work. I'm in six classes: Public and Pastoral Leadership (part II), Ethics, Paul, Hebrew Bible (part II), Denominational Studies and Constructive Theology. I'm looking forward to them
