Year End Review

One of my favourite parts of New Years is the year end wrap ups (usually movie and song related). In that spirit I am now going to provide a 2009 wrap up review:

January: After spending my first Christmas in Nelson with my best friend Mandy's family, I prepared to go to Israel on the Birthright program (a free trip to Israel for any Jewish youth between 18-27). That trip was amazing and during the ten days that I spent there I felt a very strong connection to Israel and my Jewish roots. I even began to consider moving there to do religious and hebrew studies. January was also one of the last months that I was working on my master's thesis. I even brought my thesis with me to Israel to continue editing the final draft of my thesis.

February: This month was largely devoted to thesis work. The joy of submitting and re-submitting my work over and over to my thesis committee and numerous meetings with both of my supervisors. I celebrated Valentine's day in two ways. I sent valentine cards to all the important people in my life who I love trying to embrace the idea that love was not the exclusive property of people in couples. I also spent the day with my best friend/life partner Mandy. It was important that we were hanging out because in the next month she would be moving to Kelowna :(. The last weekend in February, Mandy and I went up to Whistler for a night of partying and I Met (see How I Ended up with a British Boyfriend).

March: a very eventful month! I spent time getting to know my future boyfriend who at the time was just some British guy who made me laugh. I helped Mandy celebrate as co-host at her going away party and then helped her move in to her new apartment in Kelowna. I celebrated my 25th birthday and defended my masters thesis within 4 days of each other - that was a big week! I completed the final editing of my thesis and submitted the copy to the library ( a tortuous process for anyone who has experienced it) and was, after three years, finished my masters degree!

April: I began preparing for my 4 month trip through Europe and Israel. I had my ticket booked to arrive in London on May 19th and a return ticket at the start of September and nothing in between. I am a planner and this trip was an attempt to be more at ease with not having a plan and seeing where my travels would take me. I went back to Calgary for two weeks to visit family and spend time with my dad. At this point, I was getting used to the fact that I might only see my dad, older siblings and their families once or twice a year.

May: I returned to Vancouver, worked a temporary receptionist job and prepared for my mom's wedding. My mom was getting married on a Sunday and I was departing on my trip the following Tuesday. On the Friday night before the wedding with my siblings in town for the occasion, my apartment was robbed. This was a very traumatic experience and my lap top was stolen. Everyone pointed out to me that at least my lap top had been stolen after I had completed my thesis and my camera and ipod which were beside the lap top had been left behind. The police investigated but there was never any real hope of getting it back. The apartment never felt quite the same after that.

On May 19th I flew to London for the start of my travels. I was very nervous on the plane; I was travelling on my own and was planning to stay with Matt (who in reality I barely knew despite talking almost every day since he had left Canada) and he lived with his parents and we were going to be travelling together! It was slightly awkward when we saw each other again for the first time but we quickly fell back into the easy comfort that had been discovered when we spent time together before. I made the most of being a London tourist and loved exploring the city!

June: Matt and I went to Liverpool for a birthday party and to see our friend Chris before taking a flight to Ireland. We rented a car and explored the Southern half of Ireland including: Galway, Killarney and Dublin. Miraculously, it only rained one day in Dublin making Ireland one of the highlights of my trip. After a week, Matt returned to London and I stayed in Dublin for another day before making my way up north to Belfast. It was a jam packed week with Belfast, the Giant's Causeway day trip, flying over to Scotland to see Glasgow and Edinburgh and then flying back to London to spend another week with Matt. At the end of that week, I flew to Munich, Germany to spend two weeks with my good friends Adrienne and Max. I might never have visited Germany and Austria if they weren't there but I'm so glad that I did!

July: I celebrated Canada day in Germany which was very fun (Adrienne is also Canadian and Max is German). I departed the next day for Greece and had my first (of three) horrific experiences with Olympic Airlines! After a week on my own, I quickly learned that the island I had selected was not ideal for solo travel. It was kind of like going to an all inclusive resort in Mexico by yourself...Matt and I met up in Santorini for a wonderful week together. We alternated between beach days and pool days and enjoyed live music most nights. Matt flew back to London while I headed on to Crete. This was an island I might not have visited but a girl I had met during my first week of travels was going there and we made plans to meet up. This was the week when intense homesickness set in and I was uncertain of how I was going to continue travelling. I spent the last week of July in Israel - half of the time in guest houses and the lat few days staying with the family of a soldier I had met back in January on the birthright trip. Travelling to Israel on my own was a completely different experience and I couldn't believe that only 6 months before I had wanted to move there. I cut my trip short and changed my flight so that I could fly back to London.

August: I spent the first three weeks in August back in London with Matt. By now were both realized that this was a relationship that was important to both of us and I had made the decision to move. I began to investigate visa and work options. We celebrated Matt's 28th birthday and attended the wedding of his good friends Clare and Simon where he was the best man. I was simultaneously dreading leaving but also ready to go home because I missed my family. We had an emotional good-bye at Heathrow. I'm not sure what the airport security thought as I cried my way through the metal detector. I arrived back and stayed with my mom for a few days before moving my stuff back into my apartment. I had subletted my apartment for the summer so I had to bring everything back. I knew that I only had 6 weeks left in Vancouver to pack up my life and move out of my apartment.

September: This was a month where every day was spent selling my possessions. It was a struggle for me to part with all of my things. I had to remind myself daily that it was only stuff and I was not defined by my stuff. I learned that I had accumulated possessions almost to the point of hoarder. While part of me felt freer getting rid of everything, another part of me was sad to see it go. I still have a few boxes stored in my mom's basement. I had a wonderful going-away party in my very empty apartment and had a shopping room where my friends could rummage through my belongings that I hadn't sold and take what they wanted before I took it to the charity shop. My sister and I scrubbed and prepared the apartment for its final inspection and thankfully received our full damage deposit back. I moved back in with my mom for my last week in Vancouver. Saying good bye to a city that I had grown to love so much was particularly hard. I still hope to live in Vancouver in my future. I packed up my car and Kylie, my younger sister, and I drove the twelve hours from Vancouver to Calgary and thankfully bonded instead of killing each other. We spent two nights at my dad's house before Kylie flew back and I moved in with my older sister for my live-in nanny position to begin.

October: My older sister was getting ready to give birth to her fourth child and we had worked out an arrangement where I was going to move in with her to help out with the older kids and the new baby and she and her husband would support me while I waited for my work visa before leaving for London. I knew it was going to a lot of work but I was looking forward to spending time with my nephews and niece. My new niece, Violet Isabel was born on October 13th. My older brother and his wife were also expecting and their son Seth Joseph was born on October 25th. I was very thankful that I got to be there to meet the newest additions to our families. I also got the chance to spend time with my dad's soon-to-be wife Shelley.

November: At the start of November, I was only three weeks away from departure. It didn't really hit me until about three days before I left though. I spent my time preparing the best that I knew how for an international move (insurance, banking info etc) and then had to sell my car. I am a horrible salesperson and settled for less because I wanted to be done with it. On November 24th, I tearfully said good bye to my dad, Shelley and my best friend Christine and the airport and boarded yet another traumatic flight. This time I didn't care that I was squashed in my seat or that I had painfully blocked sinuses, I knew that what was waiting for me at the other end was worth the 9 hours of discomfort. My bags were the last to come of the carousel (of course) and then I went through the gate to see Matt. It was as if the past three months hasn't even happened and we had never been apart. That night we picked up the keys to our new flat and moved in two days later!

December: This past months has been full of adjusting to a new flat, life and culture and unsuccessful job hunting. My plan is to stay positive, work on my resume and try to be less of a job snob and accept whatever jobs come my way. I painted the kitchen and the furniture and decorations have mostly arrived. It almost looks like we live here now! I drove a manual car on the other side of the road for the first time and have plans to continue driving lessons in the new year. With my abundance of free time, I have discovered that I'm actually a pretty decent cook. I spent Christmas with Matt's family (my second christmas ever) and tried my best to only say 'bah humbug' in my head. New Year's Eve this year was a low-key affair with dinner out and having friends over to our place.

I have very high hopes for 2010!!