My birthday has come and gone. As usual, I had a party at my apartment to celebrate. This year's party was much smaller than those in previous years, but it was still fun. Most of the night was spent in the living room and around the dinner table talking and drinking various types of alcohol. Even though I missed my friends who have left Vancouver, being with the friends I have here made me very happy and made me feel that I made the right decision in returning from China.
Among the highlights of the evening were drinking Jingjiu with Neal and Paul, just like old times in Beijing, receiving the new biography of Mao as a gift from Ashley and seeing the effort that my sister made in being nice to my friends, even though she was sick. As I was drinking heavily throughout the evening, by the end I was very drunk, but also very happy about the great evening I had enjoyed with my friends.
The next dayI had a terrible headache. After making an attempt at cleaning and fielding a birthday call from my parents, Rae and I went out for a walk. Almost as soon as we left the door we ran into Adam Pauls who is spending a few weeks here between coming back from India, going to Italy to work and a comp sci PhD at Berkley. He reminded us about the pillow fight at Robson square so we went back upstairs and got some pillows. The pillow fight was fun. I did not fully enjoy it because I still had a headache and whenever I got it I really felt it. However, the sight of down filling the air and the absurdity of the whole scene was really something special.
After the pillow fight Rae and I went for a walk up to the beach and then around false creek to Yaletown. Vancouver is really a spectacular place when the sun in shineing. I don't know of anywhere else that mixes high density living with a resort like pleasantness in such a successful way. Seeing so many fit, stylish and attractive people out walking, biking and rolerblading is so inspiring, it makes me want to live a "Vancouver lifestyle."
On Sunday I went to see my grandparents. Despite some minor ailments, they are looking remarkably well for their ages. My grandfater, now 95, does not have too much energy, but he is still lucid and interested in what my sister and I are doing. Seeing them is always nice for me because the have lots of interesting stories and they make me feel connected with my family.
After the visit, I payed Rae a surprise visit. She was really not expecting me and was very happy to see me. She is working on her Master's thesis now and as the deadline gets closer she is getting more stressed. I am trying to support her as much as I can so that she can do a good job and be done with it. She showed me the outline of her paper, which was quite good, even though she had not done much actual writing yet. For dinner, we went to the other location of Samuri Sushi. Unlike the one on Davie st which is run entirely by Japanese language students, this location is run entirely by Vietnamese. Somehow, the sushi is still great.
Yesterday after work David, my roommate asked me where Chinatown was. I took the opportunity to show him Chinatown and go shopping at the same time. David is from Mexico City and is staying at my apartment while taking English classes at some language school downtown. Even though we have lived together for over a week now, he is shy and we haven't really hung out. I don't think he was very impressed by Chinatown, but he did like the steamed bun and the cheap fruits. On the way back, we walked through Yaletown which he seemed more interested in. After we got back, David, Natalia (the other roommate) and myself went out for a beer in Yaletown. We talked about Mexico. I would like very much to go and see it for myself. I hope that they will invite me to stay with them after they go back.
Today was my busiest day so far at work. It was nice not having to pretend to work the whole time. It made the time pass faster and it gave me the feeling that I was actually useful. I hope this keeps up... but doesn't increase too much to the point where I am swamped by my work.
I have thought more about my job. I think I will hold onto it until the summer and then leave it to go traveling in July or August. Of course, I would like to go to Morocco with my parents, but that would mean quitting, which would diminish the chance that I would get a good reference and also limit the impact of this job on my resume. Looking forward, some experience in an office style banking job should say "I'm employable" to my potential future employers.
Or at least I hope...
Among the highlights of the evening were drinking Jingjiu with Neal and Paul, just like old times in Beijing, receiving the new biography of Mao as a gift from Ashley and seeing the effort that my sister made in being nice to my friends, even though she was sick. As I was drinking heavily throughout the evening, by the end I was very drunk, but also very happy about the great evening I had enjoyed with my friends.
The next dayI had a terrible headache. After making an attempt at cleaning and fielding a birthday call from my parents, Rae and I went out for a walk. Almost as soon as we left the door we ran into Adam Pauls who is spending a few weeks here between coming back from India, going to Italy to work and a comp sci PhD at Berkley. He reminded us about the pillow fight at Robson square so we went back upstairs and got some pillows. The pillow fight was fun. I did not fully enjoy it because I still had a headache and whenever I got it I really felt it. However, the sight of down filling the air and the absurdity of the whole scene was really something special.
After the pillow fight Rae and I went for a walk up to the beach and then around false creek to Yaletown. Vancouver is really a spectacular place when the sun in shineing. I don't know of anywhere else that mixes high density living with a resort like pleasantness in such a successful way. Seeing so many fit, stylish and attractive people out walking, biking and rolerblading is so inspiring, it makes me want to live a "Vancouver lifestyle."
On Sunday I went to see my grandparents. Despite some minor ailments, they are looking remarkably well for their ages. My grandfater, now 95, does not have too much energy, but he is still lucid and interested in what my sister and I are doing. Seeing them is always nice for me because the have lots of interesting stories and they make me feel connected with my family.
After the visit, I payed Rae a surprise visit. She was really not expecting me and was very happy to see me. She is working on her Master's thesis now and as the deadline gets closer she is getting more stressed. I am trying to support her as much as I can so that she can do a good job and be done with it. She showed me the outline of her paper, which was quite good, even though she had not done much actual writing yet. For dinner, we went to the other location of Samuri Sushi. Unlike the one on Davie st which is run entirely by Japanese language students, this location is run entirely by Vietnamese. Somehow, the sushi is still great.
Yesterday after work David, my roommate asked me where Chinatown was. I took the opportunity to show him Chinatown and go shopping at the same time. David is from Mexico City and is staying at my apartment while taking English classes at some language school downtown. Even though we have lived together for over a week now, he is shy and we haven't really hung out. I don't think he was very impressed by Chinatown, but he did like the steamed bun and the cheap fruits. On the way back, we walked through Yaletown which he seemed more interested in. After we got back, David, Natalia (the other roommate) and myself went out for a beer in Yaletown. We talked about Mexico. I would like very much to go and see it for myself. I hope that they will invite me to stay with them after they go back.
Today was my busiest day so far at work. It was nice not having to pretend to work the whole time. It made the time pass faster and it gave me the feeling that I was actually useful. I hope this keeps up... but doesn't increase too much to the point where I am swamped by my work.
I have thought more about my job. I think I will hold onto it until the summer and then leave it to go traveling in July or August. Of course, I would like to go to Morocco with my parents, but that would mean quitting, which would diminish the chance that I would get a good reference and also limit the impact of this job on my resume. Looking forward, some experience in an office style banking job should say "I'm employable" to my potential future employers.
Or at least I hope...
1 Comments:
Marc,...did you go to sydney Academy?
If so, I'm one of your classmates.
Just let me know if this is the case and i'll get back to you
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