The World Comes To Sooke

Hello all you loyal readers! My apologies for the delay in last week’s update. Much has happened so bare with me, this post will probably be longer than previous entries.

So I left off on the afternoon of Friday, February 1… I was waiting for Heather to come back from dog walking. We took the double decker bus to Langford, our neighbouring town, to go shopping. Hooray for Winners! I found a pair of runners and two T-shirts. Score! We wandered around the mall for a bit (hooray I found Buck Or Two), searched for Walmart on foot, and ended up at The Caprice, this tiny old-school movie theatre. Hee hee! We saw 27 Dresses for $6.50! The movie was super cute. Mom, I recommend renting it.

On Saturday I spent the morning cleaning house and preparing for our houseguests who were arriving in the evening. I spent the afternoon and evening with a youth group from the Christian Revival Church in Victoria. One of my co-workers from Fresh Fitness invited me to join them. Hah, I don’t think she realizes how old I am! Anyway… we drove an hour and a half to get to “Miracle Lanes” in Sidney - the nearest bowling alley to Sooke. Hah, I’m terrible at 5-pin bowling. We went to Woody’s Grill for dinner. Upon my arrival home, I learned that my guests were delayed so I sat down to watch Casino Royale with Heather and her boyfriend Justin. Midway through the movie, my friend James (from Muskoka Woods) and his buddy Justin arrived. Man, that was a late night.

On Sunday we all slept in and had a lazy morning. I took the guys to Ed MacGregor Park and the pier and got some good pictures. We saw 3 seals playing in the water! We all went to Stone Pipe Grill for lunch before Justin’s departure back to the States. I took James and his buddy to China Beach and we stayed until the sun set. It was gorgeous! Shortly thereafter they departed for the mainland and Tyler arrived home from sea.

James and I watching the sunset at China Beach.

My “work week” (and I use the term loosely) was spent reading “Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood” by Ann Brashares, spending time online, watching movies, running errands, hanging out with JEE-ZUS (squirt, squirt) and baking cookies. Kyle arrived home on Tuesday night and made dinner, so for the first time since moving to Sooke, all four housemates were able to sit down and have dinner together. That was nice. Heather and I had pancakes for dinner on Wednesday since we missed Pancake Tuesday. I went to work at Fresh Fitness on Wednesday and Thursday morning and learned the ropes. The kids are adorable. I didn’t do anything for Chinese New Years, except send New Years text messages to my fam but then again I don’t really do anything back in Mississauga either. On Friday, Heather and I made peanut butter cookies using the recipe on the back of a Kraft peanut butter jar. I’ve always wanted to do that!! They were actually quite good! Justin arrived from the States, followed shortly thereafter by four couch surfers from White Rock. Hold that thought for a moment or two… Heather, Justin and I planned to attend Sunday morning service at the local Evangelical church but couldn’t find the church. Instead, we ventured over to the Sooke Region Museum. It was… quaint… we spent the afternoon playing cribbage and taught Justin how to play Scrabble.

Snug in a tree trunk at the Sooke Region Museum. Hahaha.

Hah, okay… couch surfers… so I’m not entirely sure how it works but there’s a website that essentially provides a network for travelers to find accommodations all over the world. http://www.couchsurfing.com/. My housemate and landlord Kyle is a member of this network and opens up our home to travelers in need of… a couch. So back to our four couch surfers. The four girls are currently nannies for families in White Rock. Two are from Germany, one is from Switzerland, and one is from Mexico. All have just completed high school. Kyle showed them around town all weekend and on Sunday three departed and one remained. Out of the four couch surfers, Svenja (from Germany) was the only one that hung out with us (the other housemates) during the weekend so I was relieved that it was her that stayed. She was a total answer to prayer.

On Monday, Svenja spent the day in Victoria and returned in the evening. We played cards and challenged each other with various puzzles and riddles. It was tons of fun. On Tuesday, I took Svenja to the pier and we met Heather along the way. I helped her walk one of the dogs! Miss. Molly was soooo cute! Heather returned to the dog daycare and we continued on our way to the pier and then Ed MacGregor Park. It was raining pretty hard so we stopped in at the Little Vienna Bakery. She had a delicious apple strudel and I had a scrumptious “Lemon Copenhagen” (it resembled a danish). We decided to go to Whiffen Spit but had to wait an hour for the next bus to arrive so we went to Serious Coffee and played Scrabble. When the bus arrived, the clouds parted and the sun came out to play. Hah, thank you Jesus. When we got to Whiffen Spit, we decided to explore the shoreline before walking along the spit. Oh man, it was so much fun! It felt like we were discovering a place that no one else had ever seen. It was so beautiful. We eventually made our way back to the spit and the sun began to slip away again so we made our way back to the bus stop. We arrived home to find out that Kyle was throwing a dinner party for us housemates, Svenja, and Tyler’s girlfriend Marika. Yum! Chicken curry on rice! Hah, it was the first time I’d had rice in a month. After dinner, Svenja and I played backgammon (she won all but one game) and then watched Jersey Girl. On Wednesday, Svenja and I made a picnic, packed up some games and headed down to the pier. After a few hours, we had to give in to the cold temperature and strong wind and went to Serious Coffee where we recommenced our game playing for the rest of the afternoon. Upon our return home, we met our next couch surfer, Sarah from Australia, who was just staying the night. Svenja left first thing Thursday morning to meet her “family” who were traveling up to Whistler for the week. I went to work. In the afternoon, Heather and I headed into Victoria. We wandered up and down Government Street, Chinatown, and along the harbour. We stopped at Mirage Coffee and then I walked Heather to the ferry heading to Port Angeles. She’s spending the weekend in Portland with Justin and his family. I continued on my adventures and ended up at Mayfair Mall and found my local Michael’s Art and Craft store (yikes!?). Kyle and I made dinner (basa fillets, rice, and broccoli) and had a good chuckle that the two single housemates were having dinner together on Valentine’s Day. On Friday, I picked up my first cheque from Fresh Fitness and ran a bunch of errands. Tyler made four dozen delicious chocolate chip cookies, which are already almost gone… I swear it wasn’t me this time!

Me and Miss. Molly!

Me and Svenja at Whiffen Spit!

Victoria's Chinatown!

So that brings me to today… I’m sick (sore throat and stuffy nose) and I spent the majority of today sitting on my bed in my pjs. It’s a shame that my immune system has to work overtime today because I was planning to see Justin Nozuka and Hayley Sales in concert tonight at Camosun College in Victoria. PS. Everyone needs to check them out cuz they’re fantastic! Sad day. I’ve been looking forward to this concert for a few weeks L On the bright side, I got to catch up with a bunch of people on msn, including my Aunt Christine (Dad’s sister in Perth, Australia).

Oh, I forgot to mention that my Mom sent me a link for an employment opportunity at the Sooke Harbour House. The offer looked amazing but unfortunately, after speaking with a woman in their head office, I discovered that the position would last from March until October. Too bad… If you’re ever in Sooke and want to stay in a really classy west coast hotel/spa, check it out! http://www.sookeharbourhouse.com/.

Hah, if you’ve made it to this point, congrats! You managed to hang in there! I’ll try to post sooner next time!

Peace out.

Much love.

Movies of the week (x2):
27 Dresses, Casino Royale, Mr. Bean’s Holiday, Billy Madison, Transformers (again), The Longest Yard, Blind Dating, Ocean’s 12, License to Wed, Man of the Year, Sicko (Michael Moore doc), Matchstick Men, Jersey Girl, History Boys, The Medallion, You, Me, and Dupree, Ever After, and part of Flight of the Phoenix (I don’t recommend it… it was pretty boring).

Prayer requests:

- Jeremy’s leg – he’s trying new treatments
- A second job – IF that’s what God wants
- Future couch surfers – I feel like this could be a cool ministry opportunity… to share my Jesus with people from all over the world who just happen to come to sleep on my couch.
- Muskoka Woods full time staff - they're in the middle of hiring the staff for this summer
- Friends (and their family) who are sick, specifically with cancer and the aftermath of strokes