Wow!!! What a whirlwind of events this past half of a week has been! I am sitting at a cafe in downtown Vancouver absorbing where I am and what has happened. How did I get here?? This past semester was extremely challenging. Classes led to finals hell week which led to crazy fun eventful senior week to graduation to a week of unpacking and repacking at home to jumping on a plane to Portland to beginning my clinical on Monday.
I'll begin with Saturday: I woke up at 4 am and flew into Portland where I met the family we are house swapping with in August. They are so sweet!! Their kids are adopted from Mexico and are so cute. Lucky for me they are graciously allowing me to borrow their bike. I don't know what I'd do without it! Thank you Anne and Stewart!
So the Saunders drove me to my new home in Vancouver which is in an awesome neighborhood. It is super cute and colorful!! Jacqui owns the house ... she works for an optometrist and is very environmentally friendly and healthy. Meagan is renting a room and works for Americorps. Mike is also living there temporarily. They are all awesome people and I am excited to live with them!
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| My Room at 507 W. 25th |
Soooo once I got settled I walked down the street and came across an estate sale! Perfect! I bought a dresser, lamp, and hairdryer there. THEN CATHY SHOWED UP AT MY DOOR. NZ MAGIC!!! She came to visit me from Tacoma :) We had an awesome day ahh. First we adventured downtown to Mint Tea where we sipped on Buddha tea, had a delicious hummus platter, caught up on our lives, and of course reminisced about NZ. We then ate dinner at McMennimens. Of course NZ magic led us to the best seat in the house - a window table facing the river. It was sunny when we arrived but we witnessed an intense downpour and thunder/lightening storm over the river while talking about the amazing storm we all witnessed in Rarotonga <3. The food was amazing and we tried a flight of their amazing micro-brewed beers. Then Cathy took me to the grocery store and helped me get settled on my first day. And guess what... I got the tank and notebook HAND DELIVERED!! Epic. As. To finish of this amazing day we ate dark chocolate Tim Tams. Thank you Cathy for making my first day AMAZING and full of NZ magic.
What is NZ magic? NZ magic is what I feel when I am surrounded by my NZ best friends. When everything good happens serendipitously and effortlessly and I am 100% happy and worry-free... This is how I felt all day everyday in NZ. Now I only get glimpses of it, but when I do it is the best feeling imaginable. Like living a dream.
