Goodbyes

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The last week, again, was kind of crazy. I arrived in Kelowna at night after 8 hours of Greyhound. The Samesun was bright yellow and welcoming as always. Only one thing was missing.. the people! I figured they were probably out and about as always so I installed myself first. Dorm room 208 this time. Definitely the tinniest room I've ever slept in. It was maybe about 2 by 6 meters and there were three bunk beds and lockers in there. If you imagine luggage of six people on top of that, you can imagine how little walking space the room had. In the end, it doesn't really matter. You never spend any time in your room, downstairs is so much place to relax. Plus, sometimes your roommates are sleeping and you can't turn the lights on, not too long at least.

I dumped my bag in the room, got changed, and headed back down. Familiar faces started appearing within no time and everybody was amazed to see me again. "We didn't think you were coming back!" I told them I had rescheduled my appointment at the hospital a week later because I loved Banff and Jasper so much. Things were same as usual, not much going on that evening party-wise. We ended up watching American Beauty on a VCR tape, how oldschool. I'm not sure if I told you about the last boatparty we had in Kelowna. I probably did because it was really awesome. Anyways, that friday they were having another one. Unfortunately you always have to sign up in advance and the list was already filled. No biggy, I didn't expect to go on it so I didn't mind too much.

Funny thing is, I ended up going on the boat after all. Everybody was sure that I wasn't go on it, there must be regulations and a max amount of people that are allowed on board. The driver already told us about an earlier boat trip that went horribly wrong. There were 60 people on the boat that started rocking the boat from left to right. Obviously the boat capsized and probably sank afterwards. That's why nobody thought I would end up on the boat. I walked along to the dock and said hello to my old friend. I didn't know if he was going to be there so it was good to see him. He is the captain of the boat we went on the first time. It was so much fun. This time I told him I was too late to sign up, but he immediately told me to get on the boat. I was like: What!? Really? Wooow, and gave him a big hug. I was on the boat! Awesome..

The rest of the time we relaxed on the beach and spend some last quality time with everybody. On Saturday I took the Greyhound to Vancouver at 5:55pm. Well, it was more 6:05 because I was too late. I had packed everything and made sure that all the batteries were charged for the trip. A friend I made in Banff was at the Samesun as well and he gave me a ride to the bus depot. Half way to the bus I realized I'd forgotten my Dutch phone at the reception to charge. We raced back, grabbed my phone, raced back to the bus, came there 5 minutes late and the bus was gone. Damn.. What now? The lady told us we could make it to Westbank in time. It was supposed to leave at 5:55pm and it was 5:35 at the time. We thought it was just across the lake after the brigde. But after the brigde was a sign with Westbank 11 km. We were never going to make it. We didn't even have proper instructions to get there so we figured it was too late. We saw the greyhound station after having driven in circles on the left, just before the highway. Of course we could turn anymore and we had to wait for the next exit to turn around. With almost no hope left we raced to the bus and there was still one standing there. The driver came up to me and asked where I was going. Vancouver! We said hop on, and reached out for a ticket. I told him I still needed to get one and he assured me to get it later in Merrit.

The best part of the story is that the bus was almost empty and I installed myself in the front. I talked with the bus driver for a bit and offered him some M&M's. He was really surprised about it, probably didn't happen often. When we got to Merrit after two hours the driver parked, opened the door and told me outside that I could forget about the ticket, but shhh, and he put his figer on his mouth. Don't tell anyone, I understood. I got a big grin on my face and walked to the restrooms with a big smile on my face. I can't believe my life. He said later that I gave him M&M's so this was his early Christmas present to me. Ha! What a trade, a few peanuts for a 60 dollar bus ticket. That is insane, now you understand why I love Canadians. They are so damn friendly always.

The first night back in Van I stayed with my 'friend' who lives close to the station. The reason I say 'friend' is because the next day he had a total mood swing and he turned into a jerk all of a sudden. I had lost my respect for him somewhat and took my bags to my real friends. Back to Burnaby, back to Sophia, back to my family away from home, back to Hewitt street, back home. Man it feels good to be back. Sunday was full of sun, we went to the beach. I wanted to go hiking on Monday but the weather was not so nice anymore. That's why instead I baked some pancakes again and met up with Marianna. It is so refreshing to see them again, after all those crazy people along the way. For the rest I've been enjoying internet that functiones so that's why I can post some pictures finally. Takes up a lot more time than you would think. I'll be back in a week so I'll show everyone the rest of the pictures in person. I have lots, a few thousand definitely!

It feels really strange to think that these are the last few days I'll have in Vancouver. I'm flying to Buffalo on the 2nd of August. Exactly one week from now. Then I'll pick up my snowboard at Waterloo, say bye to Swathi and take the plane to Brussels on the 4th. Incredible, it's going to be really weird to come home..

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