Canada Trip

This past week was a great one. I got to go home to my native land: Canada. It’s been a long time since I strutted around its shores – more than a year in fact – so it was about time to see everyone in this beautiful country. Unfortunately, I had only a week to fit everything in – as this was the mandatory holiday for most hagwon teachers in Korea. In spite of this, I managed to pack it in there. If truth be told, this trip back home was one of the best ever.

Maybe the fact that I only had a limited time condensed all the good times into one gigantic ball of happiness – or maybe it was the right mix of family, friends and weather – but I left feeling full, content and satisfied. To be fair, the first few days were rough. I think I arrived with a somewhat false sense of security as I had an energy burst the Saturday I arrived and Sunday afternoon/evening. However, this was short lived as I crashed hard after a late night Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were a bit slow but things started to feel normal by Wednesday – and by Friday – they felt exceptional. Kind of ironic that I felt the best just before leaving – but I guess that’s how it is…

I started the trip in a good way as Saturday was a relaxing experience. I arrived in the afternoon but by the time we got back to Aldergrove it was closer to evening. After some home-cooked leftovers I took a trip with my mom to walk the dog in a local park near our house. It was a beautiful evening and it made me appreciate the greatness known as Canadian wilderness.



Sunday meant attending my parents’ new church in Aldergrove which was a very pleasant event. Later that day, Toss and John came over to have some dinner with my fam. Homemade burgers later, the three of us journeyed into Coquitlam to meet with my homies. The crew consisted of Liz, Ryan, Sam, John, and Toss. Strangely enough, I didn’t stray too far from my Korean roots that night as we ate bbq chicken and drank beer in a Korean hof. Things heated up after though as the boys headed back to Toss’ place for further bonding. The evening consisted of PS2 games, poker and general debauchery. I ended up sleeping there.

Monday was a bit of a waste as I spent a chunk of time sleeping, trying desperately to recover from Sunday night. I made the trek into downtown Monday night to meet up with James as he had a busy schedule. Ryan and Sam came out to keep us company. Good times were had – and gifts exchanged. I think I came out better off as I got to keep a squishy Megatron. Everyone was pretty sleepy at the end of it all (especially me) so we called it an early night. I made it home for a well deserved rest.

This has been a brief rundown of the first few days. There will be more to come.

Peace.

-Paul