13 days

So, I have made it to my last 13 days in Waterloo, and likely Ontario in general, and what an adventure it has been! Maybe adventure, is the one describing word I have for my life. Adventure covers, the good, the bad, the wonderful and the ugly. It enables you to laugh instead of cry, when things get a little crazy... I feel like I could publish a book of stories after this year, and maybe I will, but for now I will save that task for a day when I don't have a million assignment due! I have published some of the photos that have hopefully captured some of the beauty I have seen around me. There has been the ugly too, but for the most part, my camera has avoided capturing that, even though I wish it had maybe been able to get the license plate of the car full of guys that egged me while I was walking home one day, or some of the stranger customers at the restaurant. Maybe those are simply things that are just better off forgotten.

Stratford

photos...

So, I've been trying a few new things with my little camera, trying to see what its capable of and what I am capable of with it, and here are a few of my favorites!

just when I thought I had things all figured out...

I got the 4pm wake up call! No I did not sleep till 4 o'clock, it was a different sort of wake up call, the one that kind of shakes you out of the confident thinking that sometimes deludes you (me, at least) into believing you can handle life on my own. I can't. I try, but I shouldn't be trusted, or I shouldn't trust others.. I signed up for some energy saving plan as part of my ongoing effort to trust the people around me an not believe there is danger or scheming everywhere. You know... giving people the benefit of the doubt... Not again... at least not for awhile... or just not tomorrow... tomorrow I need to be tough so I can get out of this! I got suckered and deceived into some energy plan and am extremely thankful for my friends at work telling me how to get out of it. Everything in Ontario feels a little different so it makes it harder to know who to trust and who not to. I'm learning, but apparently it is not without its bumps...

On a completely different note, I got some of the good/bad news when it comes to me being able to graduate in December. The bad news is I need 7 classes instead of 5. The good news is, I have been approved to take all 7 this semester and it will only cost me the same as if I was taking 5... you don't get charged more than 5 classes! How crazy is that? If I had know that, I would have taken 6 this summer and this winter... I could have finished almost another year! hahaha... Okay, better question, how crazy am I? Or maybe how bored am I? Or maybe everyone who reads this can fill in their own question that will be pretty much equally valid! I think I just like a challenge, and this may be a big one. I've done 7 classes before, and worked a job that was a little more emotionally challenging than my job as a server is, so the challenge is to avoid stress, and laugh lots about it and finish with better grades than I did the last two semesters just to stick it to the academic man... So, wish me luck... and don't put up with any complaining cause I have pretty much double dog dared myself to do 7 classes working 5 shifts a week... this will most definitely be a blast!

racing the bus

Its become a daily thing... my race with the bus and I can't tell if it is a good thing or not! My major life decisions have been recently reduced to trying to decide which bus will get me home the fastest, and while I battle over making the right choice at work, I always make the same decision in the end... take the challenge again and race bus #12 to your final bus stop. No one ever really wins, and the bus driver doesn't know this challenge even exists, but I take the competition seriously! Today was my personal best! I took my 10 minute bus ride to my final 3 km walk home, and almost beat the #12... I made it within one bus stop... I guess it tells you a few different things, I walk really really fast, or the route the 12 takes is super all over the map, or I am just really stubborn... cause even if I know I can catch the 12 and ride it a few blocks and give my poor over worked feet a break, I pull my shoulders back, put my chin up and walk faster until I hit the hill on my street and regret that I have an ongoing competition with a bus, a competition I will likely never win, but I will also likely never back down from...

waterloo is different

Life in Waterloo is different... more specifically, the rain is different... at least different than it is in Vancouver! Here, the humidity rises dramatically as you watch the thick black clouds roll in from several directions as they angrily prepare for battle. They clouds meet with a crash, and the sky goes dark, so dark its as if it instantly goes from day to night. The temperature which has been getting hotter and hotter as the clouds get closer, suddenly drops and the wind picks up with great intensity. Then, the rain begins to fall, and not at all as a drizzle I have become accustomed to on the west coast. These drops are huge, and when one lands in your hair, it soaks down to your scalp and then proceeds to run down your face. These first few drops are a warning of what is to come, as the sky literally opens up and these huge rain drops fall with determined forced, its like they know that if they came any softer, the wind would blow them horizontally and they might never reach the earth. Wind, the mighty gust that it is catches the waterfall coming from the sky and blows the rain in a slightly vertical fashion as wave after wave of rain is sent through the air in front of you, leaving massive puddles and borderline flooding in its wake... and then, as suddenly as it came, it is now gone, and the clouds, which are now obviously lighter, begin to break up and the sun and blue sky peaks through and you know there will be some relief from the storm before it hits the same way over and over and over again in one day.
In all honesty, I love storms, except for the fact that I take the bus, and know I cannot predict when they will hit... and I have found that an umbrella is no match for the wind and rain combination in this city. Today is one of those stormy days, and I fear that I will arrive at work drenched beyond belief... but I guess this is the ongoing adventure that is my life in Waterloo... at least for now...

A long overdue update?

Well, its been a whirlwind of a month, we found a new place, and obtained possession on March first, I started my new job at the keg on Feb 28 and turned 28 on March 2! It was busy... and I'm not going to lie it is taking me longer than I like to figure things out like the bus routes, the time it takes to walk places, how to shop without time or a car... etc. The apartment is perfect and Jami my room mate is terrific! I love our apartment here... and I'm catching on to life in a new area of town! If I used to walk between 3 and 10 km a day before... I think my minimum amount of walking has to be over 5 km... its good, it keeps me up to date on my vitamin C, and walking at the restaurant will soon equal a little money once I am done training and getting tips! I think I will really enjoy that job... I like talking to people and smiling and walking, so it should be good. All that said, I miss home, my family, and friends, the ocean, the city, and spring in March, not May. I love the phone calls... so keep them coming or start them up!

The sights and sounds of Waterloo and its surrounding area continue to shock and delight me... life is simpler here, especially when you leave town and head for the country! The rolling little hills are bare except for a few forested areas and little farm homes dotting the countryside. Yesterday when we were heading out of town we passed a family bumping down the street in a horse drawn buggy, and while I nearly fell over from surprise, people here say its pretty typical-but really!!??! And when I tell people I'm Mennonite and they find out my last name is Martin, they assume I'm the horse and buggy type of Mennonite... the last name Martin is English everywhere in the world but here apparently!

Yesterday was a phenomenally beautiful day! The sun was out, the sky was blue and if felt like spring was in the air as the snow is almost totally gone! I've been told not to be fooled by this burst of spring weather and keep my boots and winter jacket handy! And, truth be told, its still rather cold out... but nothing as bad as those days I realized the rock in my shoe was my frozen toe! In my walk through the small town I came across a building only I would love... and lucky for everyone... I have learned how to upload photos and so you can love these buildings too!




And Great news... We found and apartment and we move in 2 weeks from now! Its a super cute and tiny 9th floor corner apartment in an almost brand new building! Jami and I have friends in the building already, so that will be fun and I get to cut the bus to school out of my life, as its only a 20 minute walk to school! You really can't ask for anything better than we found... I'm so excited to move in there! And, people have been absolutely generous in lending and giving us stuff to furnish our little place! All we need to do is find some stuff for our little kitchen!

the dirty filthy apartment search

When you come across a landlord who doesn't quite have all her teeth... maybe that is the first clue to turn and walk in the other direction... just throwing that out there...
The search for a new place to live has been a disaster! You know the shows where those two British ladies go into the dirtiest, most disgusting homes you've ever seen in your life... these apartments could easily be on the show! The stench of the first one was intolerable, the bathroom was horrible enough to trigger the desire to throw up... and the thoughts of it continue to do so even 2 days later, there was mold growing on every surface in a bathroom... but that landlord said, we'll be able to get rid of that no problem... in the one I looked at today, the mold on the window cill was at least a millimeter or more thick... so that's a bit of an issue, as was the filth that seeps out of every surface... Luckily day one I went with my friend Dawn, so she can vouch for the uninhabitable conditions we saw... today I ventured out on the town on my own, which might not be smart based on the areas I've now travelled to, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
And, taking the bus to look at apartments, or hand out resumes has been a little more than I bargained for. I am beginning to think God has a pretty funny sense of humor, as the days I've been out have been windy, cold and snowy... so cold that I thought there was a rock in my boot, which turned out not to be a pebble, but my very own poor little frozen toe. The snow banks, and out of service buses in the middle of the blowing snow sort of take the energy right out of you... At the moment, I'm feeling a little nervous, most people say it will work out, but the despair of the first few has not been helpful at making me hopeful... but, life is an adventure right, and what is an adventure without a few scrapes and bruises and a lot of good stories... right?

waterloo is prettier and the people on the buss are funnier with snow...

Waterloo is prettier with snow...Fresh snow that is... And, the people on the bus are funnier with snow too. Today some of my personal favorites were the girl in the purple parka passed out and about to fall off her seat on the bus, and the guy with the double fur hood who always gets onto the bus with Starbucks in his hand-the real question is how the heck do you make it to the bus with enough time to stand in a Starbucks line up and get a coffee... for me, pretty much every attempt to make it to the bus on time involved a slipping and sliding sprint with the 30 pound backpack carrying all my life possessions bouncing precariously on my shoulders... And I love the fur hood on my new down sleeping bag-like winter jacket... although I have been called Aslan... awesome...
So far, January's weather has not been super conducive to taking the bus around town to drop off resumes... But regardless of how tricky it may be, today is the day I will get my resumes to some of the nicest restaurants in town... I tried on a few outfits trying to think of how I can make a good impression on the places I visit, and then came to terms with the fact that my sleeping bag jacket will just totally cover it all, so I'm relying on the smile I'll put on my freezing face and my awesome boots to win them over! Tomorrow the apartment search continues...

Well, I'm at day 24 in Waterloo, Ontario... and wow, has it been an adventure! There are some parts that I have begun to accept as normal for my life, like the first day on the 'trial' bus run when the sky opened up with horrible amounts of rain, and froze me solid in the majorly sub zero temperatures, or, the young guy that offered to be my tour guide and told me repeatedly that "you have really nice eyes, really nice, REALY nice..." which made my bus stop pretty amusing and horribly awkward (and it was so cold, my eyes were the only thing he could even see...) and there's the $20 bucks I found on the seat of the bus one day when I had been stressing out about finding a job.

And job wise, well, there are no new amazing developments as of yet... I've applied several places, and have some work to do calling back, and now I seem to have a few leads on some restaurants, so that could be AMAZING, but, there's a little but, okay maybe a huge one... Its the bus, my source of entertainment and transportation, and the thorn in my flesh for the job (and weekend social life) The last bus to my area leaves at 6pm on Saturday and Sunday... which just will not work as a waitress, or as any non, 9-5 job... which leads me to another little piece of the adventure...

The house situation... I've been rooming with friends of mine who couldn't have been nicer to me. They've welcomed me with open arms, and their love for me has gone a million miles to how their friends have welcomed me into their lives as well... Socially I have been having a blast (and often forget that I came here for school... not just visiting!) oh yeah, the problem... all the great people definitely distract me from the 'unsure' things in my life

My friend's house officially sold tonight... and I got to celebrate with them, and tell them all about how great BC is, but it did manage to instill a little panic in my little heart and a few giant tears in my eyes... and my phone doesn't get reception at the house, so here's my long email update to everyone asking them to pray that I will find an apartment... I have a very great potential room mate, and we found the most amazing apartment in an amazing location for an incredible price (and the bus goes all there all the time!) I'm hoping to have a place to live in the next week or so... cause it will really help with the job and I guess I need both... haha Someone had a pending application, and I'm calling the 'super' tomorrow hoping to hear that it fell through (that really sounds horrible!) and if it won't be ours, I'm hoping that I will really feel God's presence... and peace... and I know that this isn't the biggest deal in the world, but when you're trying to be tough on your crazy adventure, these big huge unknowns are a tiny bit of a big deal!

Oh yeah, and School, the reason I went out here... school is great! I am making friends on the bus, in my classes, in my group projects, and I love it! I like what I'm learning, I think its interesting and valuable!

Well that's me in a long 'nutshell'! I do miss you all in BC, I don't think BC drivers drive any worse in the snow than anyone out here, and the rainy blues we get on the West Coast are simply a warmer version of what people have out here... except when I show people pictures of the west coast they nearly drool in jealousy... like I will be in about a week when I start hearing about all the buds on the trees!

daily comedy around the bus

So, I take the bus and I kind of like it! There is not a single ride where I have not hysterically laughed (inside my head). There are a few types of people that are simply run of the mill bus riders... the ipod ignorers, the still sleeping, the angry, and the over-achieving text book readers (which could also be the 'oh crap I forgot to do this last night' readers... its hard to tell). There are the starers who sit across from you and just stare until you feel uncomfortable and decide to ride the rest of the way either pretending to sleep, or just staring at your feet hoping that by the time you look up again, he'll be gone. There are the people who are simply helpful when you ask where this bus ends up at, and there are those who think that you asking that question is your way of flirting with them. There is the bus driver that needs a cigarette so badly she nearly jumped out of the bus before it had come to a complete stop, cigarette balanced precariously in her lips, one arm keeping her standing, the other already compulsively flicking her lighter. There are people that pretend no one else is at the bus stop with them, and then there is the most interesting bus rider I've encountered yet... the one that starts talking to you, introducing himself, telling you all about where he goes to school, how old he is, how I can look him up if I ever need a tour guide in the city, or if I come out in that direction again... he'd be more than willing to be as helpful as possible... in any way... in any way... and then just as I thought I'd get to wait for the bus in relative peace and quiet... (pacing back and forth to ward off potential frost bitten fingers, toes, and nose) I am told 'You have really nice eyes,' its quiet for a second before I hear 'really nice eyes' and oh yes, one more time 'REALLY nice eyes' and now the eye contact is gone, he's embarrassed, and I am so cold I mutter out a frozen thank you and I smile kindly under my scarf and thankfully, the bus arrives and he runs to the back, and I stumble onto it hoping I still have full use of my frozen extremities so I can live to take the bus another day...

Week one is done

I'm in Waterloo and its great! I arrived last week to find almost zero amounts of snow, so that was a little bit of a surprise seeing as BC had just received recorded accumulations of snow... funny...
The day before classes began I decided to make a trial run on the bus... I didn't have my full time student card, so it meant I was sort of sneeking on the bus for the first few days... but when you have no idea where or how to get a student card... really, what can you do? Anyways, back to the trial run... I took the bus all the way to the University of Waterloo Campus, and when I arrived, I took one last look at the homemade map I'd made to help me get to the building of my first class before before I hopped of the bus and into the freezing cold again. I literally hadn't taken two steps before the entire eastern sky opened up and down-poured all over me! The rain completely soaked my jacket, mittens, jeans, and toque... I was a sopping wet mess... Now keep in mind that it is actually -8 out and events of freak rain like that just should never happen.... because when they do, you end up freezing solid like a popsicle... the sidewalks become solid ice too... which was nothing compared to how cold and frozen I was now feeling. I made it to the building, and of course the minute I stepped inside it stopped raining. Well, that little trip took 40 minutes and I knew there must be a shorter way to get home, so I start walking up a street in search of the main one I came down... and after a lot of sniffling and shuffling down the icy street I realized I had no idea where I was or where I was going (everything looks the same when it has snow on it!) I started walking in the other direction hoping I'd see something familiar when I made my first phone call for help. Help involved me getting a map of Waterloo with highlighting of the main streets I need to know and little stars at all the places that I need to find my way back to (like the place I am living) and a ride home!
Speaking of places to live, the For Sale sign went up at the place I'm living on Saturday... so that's a little sad to lose my good friends to the West Coast... I'm not sure exactly when, but I'll soon be looking for a new place to live and am hoping to find some really great people to live with-luckily, everyone I have met has been fantastic and while I am no farther on places to live or jobs to work at, I have friends!!!