Three days before departure

By now, the goodbyes have wound down a bit. Before I reflect I want to record what I've done in the last week so I don't forget; because I didn't take many photos at all.

Thu June 9, 2011 - back at midnight from the Dominican Republic. Tired, sweaty, mosquito-bitten, but also relaxed, refreshed, destressed, and exhilarated from a ton of fun with Stephanie, Julianna, Jenny and Tzu.

Fri June 10, 2011 - booked the day off to spend with Joey to watch Game 5 (Boston at Vancouver), downtown at Red Robins; a 1-0 win on a Lapierre goal.

Sun June 12, 2011 - visited EAT Vancouver with Joey and sampled lots of yummy food, including pork belly sandwich, tuna tataki with mango and avocado, and blueberry and mango/pineapple sorbetto from Canadian Maple Delights. delicious. Then went to the Designer Shoe Sale next door in the other Vancouver Convention centre, where we were lured into a big warehouse-type room with rows and rows of size 6 shoes (Joey's dream, my worst nightmare). After browsing the whole thing for 1.5 hours and not finding anything suitable, I had my name drawn for a draw, meaning that we had won a free pair of (ladies) shoes, and that we had to go through the whole selection again to find Joey a pair.

Mon June 13, 2011 - I can't remember what I did in the morning, but Joey came over for dinner and also to watch Game 6 at my place.

Tue June 14, 2011 - visited UBC in the morning to drop off the Honorary Activities Award cup, run some errands, and also had coffee with Sandra (her treat, again, despite my attempt to pay this time) and said goodbye. I also gave her a photo of my graduation with Joey and my family in it, because she didn't get to meet them in person at graduation.

Then went downtown to wait for Joey, then went to Kingyo in downtown Vancouver (hapa food) for dinner with Julianna, Stephanie, Jenny, Bing Wei, Ellen, Danny, and Oswald. Afterward we went to Capstone for fondue and bubble tea. It was really good to see everyone, and I had to say goodbye to Juli, Bing Wei, Ellen and Danny there.

Wed June 15, 2011 - In the morning visited Burnett to drop off a graduation photo with Ms. Takada, my high school counsellor. Visited my doctor to figure out some vaccination stuff, then went to Broadway first to Chapters to waste time, then to Boston Pizza to reserve a seat for the big Game 7! Watched the game with Joey, Bernice Lee and her friend Lilian. Said goodbye to Bernice after the game. Also watched the rioting as it happened on TV when I got home.

Thu June 16, 2011 - Had my driving exam in the early afternoon and passed it! Class 5! In the late afternoon had a Skype chat with Maryam, where we updated each other on our summers so far! Afterward went to dinner at Pisces Fish and Chips in Richmond with Rachel, Kevin, Leon, Sarah, Beatrice, and Nelson, and the girls and Kevin stayed to visit Jin at Starbucks next door afterwards. I hadn't seen most of them in a long time, and it was barely enough time to update each other and share some stories before I said goodbye to all of them. Rachel drove me home too.

Fri June 17, 2011 - Went to Branas Mediterranean Grill in Vancouver with Cindy, Mark, Irfan and Joey; again we updated each other and shared some stories (eg. learned about the chocolate chili, kimchi and balsamic vinegar flavours of gelato at La Casa from Mark) and I said goodbye. Then headed home for dinner (lobster tails =D), prepared for the barbeque the next day and then caught a late-night movie (Pirates 4) with my sister.

Sat June 18, 2011 - went early to Jericho Beach to claim a table; ended up having a fantastic barbeque on a cloudy and mostly non-rainy day with Herb, Steph, Tzu, Max, Oswald, Alice, and Jenny. We had a lot of fun, ate a lot of meat, fruit, veggies, and other goodies. Alice brought her mom's banana-leaf-wrapped sticky rice (zong zi) and tons of food that we ended up having to cart home. Thanks to Tzu and Max who brought the barbeque and manned the cooking.

Although these haven't happened yet:

[edit: have updated these days]

Sun June 19, 2011 - visit Steveston Farmer's market with Joey. We bought ingredients for sandwiches there (greens and Fieldstone Italian Puglese bread, which we thought was kind of like a sourdough when we ate it) and also had some beef chili from the guy with the tank. The tank is apparently from Czechoslovakia and they used it to feed soup to the troops in the wars. We basically skipped lunch and went to RC for a little bit. I went home, learned how to file taxes with my mom, and then packed a bit and had dinner. Met up with Charlene at Estea after dinner - we hadn't talked in a long time!

Mon June 20, 2011 - day with Joey. Met in the morning after Joey's mom's CT scan at Dragon View in Richmond (formerly Wah Wing) for dimsum with her parents and my mom, then just Joey and I bussed up to Kits for a beach afternoon. The sun came out for us! We ate the sandwiches (see above) on the beach, then went to the Boathouse for our favourite desserts there (mocha ice cream mud pie for me, and trio of sorbets - mango, blood orange and blackberry - for her), which were very large and cost $8 each. After our goodbye, I went home via RC and randomly dropped by the Virgin stall where Tiff was luckily working to say hi and bye. At home I had a lobster dinner, then played hockey with Dennis and Adrian, and then played some video games with A and J. Tzu and Juli also called me =), although by then, I think I was so caught up in leaving and the 'saying goodbye' mode that I forgot to ask about Juli's Tofino trip, and more importantly to say happy birthday!

Tue June 21, 2011 - fly to Toronto, leaving at 9:30am.

So reflection-wise; today was the day that I started packing in earnest, although I don't feel like I'm doing it very completely. Not only does it remind me how difficult things might be initially (as I'm not bringing the comforts that I'm used to, like my cheddar cheese Pringles can sitting on my table, or all my photos (I'm bringing just two), or my bed or side table or hole puncher), but I also packed while listening to my (short) friend playlist. To explain, I've asked some of my friends to each give me a song that will remind me of them (if I haven't asked you, I plan to tonight or tomorrow =D). And so right now I only have three songs (hopefully I have more than three friends) and the act of packing, leaving, made me feel sad today. I think the act of having planned all these events this week, and needing to say goodbye to a group of people that means a lot to me on a daily basis, is hard on me. Plus, I need to and I want to stay positive each day, because it's my last day with them for a while.