Day 2

This morning started at about 7:45am. I heard the kids get up, but I also had my alarm set for 8am anyways. So I just got up right away, jumped in the shower, said good morning to the fam, then set off on Ruth's bike to meet up with Alex and Kala for breakfast at the Blue Fox Cafe.

Just wanna say, I walked over the blue bridge. It's a bridge that opens up to let boats through. It was really cool! I got off the bike and walked on the sidewalk so I could be a tourist and gawk at everything haha...

Blue Fox Cafe is amazing!!! The atmosphere, the staff, the food... So good! :D

Their special today was two blueberry pancakes topped with vanilla bean cream, sliced peaches, and maple syrup. Serious tastebud party!

After breakfast, the three of us headed back to Alex's. Kala had to get going (she lives in Nanaimo and had to head back for work), and I locked up my bike there. Alex gave me a tour of his new place - which is amazing! The front entrance (which isn't actually used) is spectacular! It actually reminds me a lot of Professor X's school in X-Men.

Then we went on an adventure! We walked around the east side of Craigdarroch, and I found lots of cool fauna! Holly, Monkey Puzzle, some other really interesting things that I have no idea what they are lol...

We made it to Craigdarroch Castle, which is really pretty! We didn't go in, but we walked around the outside, it's cool!

Then we headed downtown via Fort Street, stopping in a couple shops along the way. I got a book and a card! We also found St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, which had its bells ringing! So we went over and checked it out. The church was open for viewings, so we went in. Turns out that the eastern stained-glass windows were dedicated to Robert Dunsmuir (the dude had the castle built), but he died shortly before it actually opened in 1889. And those windows came from Germany, and were sailed around south of the Americas. Huh!

Then we headed down to the wharf. Or as Alex called it, Tourist Central. Which makes sense, there were a LOT of tourist things set up! Hippo bus anyone? :)

We were heading for Fisherman's Wharf, but we only made it as far as Laurel Point Park. Which was pretty :) Stopped and sat down for a few minutes (my feet were kinda sore by this point), then headed back up and around to Red Fish Blue Fish. Which had a decent line-up...

We only waited in line for about 40 minutes or so, which apparently isn't that bad! I'm not surprised, that fish was GOOD!!! I had the grilled salmon, Alex had the grilled albacore tuna. Oh man, as much as I loved my salmon, his tuna was sooooo much better!!! Grilled to medium rare, it was like melt-in-your-mouth splendour! I would definitely wait in line again just for that! :D

Point of interest: that wharf that Red Fish Blue Fish is on would be the equivalent to The Forks in Winnipeg. It is the founding spot of Victoria. Pretty cool!

Once we had our fish, we had to rush back up through downtown, cuz Alex had to be at work for 2, and it was already about 1:30. We ended up parting ways at Cook Street (the street his work is on), so I walked up to his place to get the bike, and head back to the Hickmans'.

All in all, I travelled 8.9km by bike, and walked 7.6km, for a total of 16.5km. Not too shabby for my first full day here! ;)

So I was back at the house long enough to have a quick rinse-off shower (I was stinky from biking those hills lol!) and a glass of water, then I was out the door with Ruth and little sis to pick up big bro from day camp, then we were off to the Victoria Bug Zoo! Oh man was that place ever cool! There's about 50 different kinds of bugs in there. And wow were the kids ever brave!!! They held as many bugs as they were allowed to through the tour! I, on the other hand, was not brave enough to hold any lol. I did, however, take pictures of all the bugs there! I will not post them all, lucky for you my dear readers lol, but here are a few of my faves :)

Frog beetle:

Black scorpion that glows green under a UV light:

Leaf-cutter ant colony (the largest ant farm in Canada):

Malaysian Orchid Mantis:

Once we were back at the house, we made sushi for dinner! :D My first time making sushi, and I think my rolls were pretty darn swell! :)

And they were delicious!!! Cream cheese, cucumber, carrots, mango, alfalfa sprouts, and scrambled egg. AAAAAAAMAZING!!!! :D

I figured it would be a good idea to stay in tonight. After two long (but super fun) days, I recognise that I need to give my body some down time. I was wanting to go out, for sure! But, probably for the best to stay in.

Tomorrow I'm meeting up with Alex again for breakfast at Spoons Diner, then the plan is to make it to Fisherman's Wharf and see the house boats. Gonna be another great day, I'm sure! ADVENTURE!!!!! :D

Day 1

A few months ago, I was thinking about how I'd like to travel this summer. I thought I'd like to head west and visit a few friends on the coast, and get the opportunity to see the Pacific ocean :)

So I put some ideas out there, contacted some friends on the coast, started looking at dates to travel...

Then I was chatting with Alex, and he was saying that he'd be in Winnipeg for Ai-kon in July, so I asked him if it'd be cool if I came back out with him (because by then he'd be living in Victoria). Which it was.

So, plans were put into place, dates were worked out and booked off, and transportation was booked!

July 15-21 Victoria visiting the Hickmans and Alex
July 21-24 Edmonton visiting Stewie (from camp) and Beth
July 24-27 Red Deer visiting Ian and Deanna

And so, here I am in Victoria! :D

While here, I'm staying with some friends of mine - Ruth and Peter Hickman. For the most part, I'm planning on hanging out with Alex during the day while the Hickmans are at work, and then hanging out with the Hickmans in the afternoon/evening while Alex is at work. Pretty sweet how it's all working out! :)

I am wanting to journal about my travels, and since I forgot my journal (whoops!), it's going into my blog here! So hooray, bloggety blog! :D

Yesterday, Alex and I set out to catch a 2:15pm flight to Victoria, with a layover in Vancouver. We stopped for lunch at the airport (Stella's, obvious choice lol), flew 2.5 hours to Vancouver, stopped to eat at Vera's Burgers (their meat can't be beat, apparently...), then flew 10 minutes to Victoria.

Oh. My. Word. The mountains were AMAZING!!!!!

And Victoria is really beautiful too! Honestly, I am falling in love with this city so fast. It's gonna break my heart when I leave....

So, first day in! Ruth picked us up at the airport (THANKS RUTH!!! :D), dropped Alex off at his place, then took me sight-seeing a bit.

I am so serious when I say this: Victoria has so many beautiful places!!! Dallas Road, the harbour, the Leg, the Empress, downtown! Not to mention MOUNTAINS!!! :D

In the evening, Ruth took me down to Gorge-ous Cafe to hang out with the knitting group from High Point. They meet every Tuesday evening there, and there's also a jam session happening there too, so that's pretty cool!

Then we went grocery shopping, and headed home for the night. It was a really long day, but it's soooo good to be here! :)

Inspiration.

My friend Sherrie has an "Inspirational People" section on her blog, and I was honoured today to have been included :)

You can read it here.

Thank you my friend, this really means a lot to me :) Love you! <3

Alone.

I've been feeling myself pulling away from people as of late.

It bothers me.

I haven't been totally consciously doing it, but looking back on my weekend, I feel like I've been distant from others.

Friday night - Ladies' Night Out with my church, I was very tempted to just not go, but I forced myself to because I knew I needed to get out. I ended up having a good time, which was nice :)

Saturday - My only plans of the day was a movie date with a friend and her fam. I also invited a friend last-minute, but she wasn't able to get in because they sold out right before her turn at the till. So I ended up sitting by myself in the theatre because there wasn't enough seats all together for my friend and her fam. Then after the movie, I took my time getting out of the theatre, but did wait around for everyone else to come out, in hopes of seeing my friend. I didn't, and she wasn't answering her phone, so I just went home.

Today - At church I kinda shied away from people, didn't really chat much. At one point in the morning, when it was just me and the cadets there, one of them asked me, "So, what's going on?" And I just thought to myself, there's a lot going on that I don't want to tell you about because you're leaving. After the service I hid upstairs for longer than I needed to while putting the music away. Then I skipped out on going to the Booth grad because I just didn't want to be around people.

I don't know...

At this point, right now, I just feel lost. Like I'm swimming around trying to figure out which way is up and which way is forward, but I end up just spinning in circles and not going anywhere.

And because I feel like I've lost direction, I feel the need to pull away from people so they don't see anything wrong with me.

I've been trying to open up to certain people... I have a friend that I met at college, I am very open with her about everything, she knows it all. One of my friends from my house church I've somewhat opened up to, but more so just about my sexuality.

But the thing I find hardest is finding someone within my home church - Weston - to open up to. There are a couple people I think would be good to talk with, but there never seems to be that opportunity. The worst part is not being able to open up to my pastor, because there's always that chance that they won't be there very long. Especially with what's been happening these past few years, it's very very difficult to be able to trust that they'll be around for the journey.

And that's a tough thing to deal with, on both sides.

I haven't spoken with my current pastor since finding out about her being reassigned. Right now, I don't really want to, because I know it's going to be hard. Knowing that she's leaving only leaves me without anything to talk with her about, anything more than just pleasantries and small talk.

I am upset. I am angry. I am frustrated. I am distrustful of the Salvation Army. I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this...

Change.

Change can be good.

But sometimes it's not.

I don't like change.

I like routine.

I like knowing what to do, and what's going to happen.

Today the Annual Change for 2014 in The Salvation Army was made public (here).

We're getting yet another officer change. Fourth one in three years.

In 2011, Ian and Deanna Scott came. It was so great! I had some classes with them when I attended Booth College, so it was great being able to reconnect with them again! Especially with Deanna, we bonded so fast and so well, I was comfortable opening up with her.

But only a few months into their stay here, they were put on leave, and in the end they ended up leaving The Salvation Army. (Long story, not my story to tell, but the jist of it is, they were gone.)

Then we had guest speakers until we were appointed cadets in 2012, and then Margaret in 2013.

And even when Margaret came, I had a really hard time in opening up to her, because I didn't know if she'd be here longer than a year.

And I was honest with her about that. There was a time when I was struggling, she offered for me to chat with her, but I flat out told her that I didn't want to let her in simply because I couldn't be sure that she'd be able to walk the journey with me. She understood, and also shared that she's also frustrated with that.

It is so frustrating not being able to open up to my pastor.

It is so frustrating not being able to trust that the Salvation Army will keep them there to build and maintain relationships within the corps.

So now we have Tina and Keesom coming in at the end of June.

A part of me doesn't want to stay at Weston. I'm so tired of The Salvation Army making so many changes, especially with Weston.

But the responsible side of me knows that it would not be right to just pick up and leave right in the middle of a transition.

I'm frustrated.

So incredibly frustrated.

And I really hope that Tina and Keesom will be here for at least a few years...