Goodbye Canada

Tomorrow begins my whirlwind week in which I move to Korea.

Monday - Vancouver hotel 

Tues/Wednesday - Tokyo hotel

Thursday - Pusan hotel

Friday - My very own South Korean shoebox. 

I think I'm pretty excited for all I don't quite believe I'm doing it yet. I guess somewhere between the waiting room in Vancouver Int'l and my hotel in Tokyo it will sink in that I'm really going and/or gone. 

My last night in Victoria was crowned by this spectacular sunset. A highly superior way to leave Canada.

One Week

Victoria has behaved beautifully this week. The Olympics were out in full force the other evening offering this opportunity to photograph the float home community in Victoria's harbour. 

**For those living in cold and snowy parts of Canada: you may want to divert your gaze from the next paragraph**

Last week I went to a coffee shop in Oak Bay village. I like coffee shops and this one was very pleasant. It was a blog-worthy experience because I enjoyed my latté from the sunny and relatively warm comfort of the outside patio... in February! My apologies to all ye in Cold Canada. I'm sure the snow drifts are very pretty.

This is my last week in Canada. I haven't managed to sort my visa woes entirely and will have to make a Japan visa-run shortly after my arrival in Pusan. But honestly, what's so bad about a weekend trip to Japan, especially if it includes a ferry-boat ride? Aside from these purely bureaucratic issues my Korea plans are advancing swimmingly.

Vancouver is next on my agenda where I'll catch up with T and most probably the Korean consulate.

Shangri-la

Victoria is cool and wet. The weather has been 5 degrees and rainy consistently everyday since I arrived.

 On the plus side the roads are clear, the lawns are green and many gardens are adorned with beautiful little yellow flowers.

A drive ~225 km north confirmed that Vancouver Island, the bottom part at least, remains largely snow-free.

That is until you turn a corner at km 220. 

Instantly snow appears. 

I'm not talking about a dusting of snow either. There is more snow at Mount Washington than I have ever seen in my life. It boasts a base of 435 cm of snow! How is possible to go from zero to 4 meters in the space of one highway turn off? My only conclusion is that Vancouver Island is somehow gifted with a Shangri-la type magic. 

Countdown to Korea

I'm flying to Tokyo in exactly three weeks. As I expected there are problems with my immigration papers to Korea. In truth I would have been extremely surprised had my visa application been accepted without a hitch. As it is, I need to resubmit half of my documents. I suppose this is just the beginning of a long and frustrating relationship with Korean bureaucracy. 

I am excited to move and I am looking forward to what promises to be an exciting and interesting year if also very trying as well. Teaching English in Asia is far from original, every day I meet people who have either gone themselves or have a close relative who has gone over, but this just enforces the idea that it's a pretty sweet opportunity for recent grads. 

I left Ottawa the day after a severe winter storm dumped 25 cm of snow on the city. Arriving in Victoria felt like fast forwarding several months to spring. It is still cold-ish but there are flowers in bloom and not a flake of snow (other than on mountain tops) to be seen. I guess that's it for winter for me for 2008. 

I'm living in Faster J's wicked waterfront condo with Pa and S. I went to bed on my first night feeling like I was staying in a posh hotel. I don't know how I'll adjust to my future shoebox-sized apartment after this! But it will be my shoebox so it will still feel pretty sweet.