Hello! Remember me? Yes, it has been a verrrrrry long time coming, but a lot has been happening here and finally I have found the motivation to start writing again.
2021 in Vancouver started pretty poorly: Covid-19 case numbers just kept on rising, despite the numerous prevention measures we supposedly had in place. April and May saw restaurants and bars close their doors to basically all but takeaways, and the majority of the ski resorts in the area suffered from early closures (also due to Covid-19). Given we still weren’t able to properly hang out with our friends, food and skiing had basically become my life. With all these closures, it definitely felt like there was nothing to write about!
Our numbers were hitting 1200 daily on a regular basis, until the province introduced the circuit breaker and a prioritization of first dose vaccines, resulting in our numbers slowly and steadily dropping across the past 2 months. We have just entered Phase 3 of our re-opening plan, which means most activities are back on the cards – basically just no concerts and round the world trips at this stage.
In April, some of our best friends (Aimee and George) had to suddenly leave for NZ. This really sucked, but the unexpected silver lining was that we had the opportunity to move into the upstairs unit of George’s sister’s house for 6 months. We were reluctant to leave the West End, but we thought the change in scenery might be good for us – the daily routine of the last year was starting to get a little bit tedious, and it would be a great chance to localize ourselves to a new party of the city. We are now over 2 months into that lease and we are loving it. The backyard has proven especially useful for hosting our friends for outdoor BBQs and growing some of our own produce.
The 6 month sublease ties in wonderfully with the expiry of our working visas; finishing up in mid-November, we have made the easy but extremely sad decision to leave Vancouver. The pandemic has obviously had the effect of making us feel even more isolated from our family and friends, and Andy is positively chomping at the bit to return to his job as a lawyer. As for me, I am heading off any possible ‘relapse’ into law by studying a course in financial advice – watch this space. I have never loved a city more than what I love Vancouver and I know we are both going to be very sad to go.
With restrictions easing, our NZ countdown on, and the much welcome transition into summer, things are really heating up. Both literally and metaphorically. Last week we had a heatwave: Canada recorded its highest ever temperature three times in 23 hours, and then Lytton, the town which recorded these high temperatures basically burnt to a crisp less than a week later. L Devastating, and to think that summer is only just beginning. Metaphorically, we have trips planned basically every weekend for the next few months, we have both joined sports teams (beach volleyball for me, softball for Andy) and we have finally started to grow our social circles once again.
Currently Andy is working at the office twice a week. While I still haven’t been in yet, I expect that to change in coming months. For now, I am really lapping up having the freedom to work from home, soaking up our sunny yard whenever I can and constantly planning how we can achieve everything on our still growing bucket list. We have a lot of ground to cover, some amazing trips and activities to look forward to, and I will do my absolute best to record my Canadian adventures here.
