fun in good weather times

I realize now that blogging can be more difficult when thing seem more 'normal'. The last two weeks have been amazing. Two weeks ago my sister who lives about 4 hours east of us came down with her family. We stayed with them at my parents house, and had "Camp Unrau" for 6 days. We went blackberry picking at Ben's Grandpa's farm, visted mom at work and Grandma Z., went to Lonsdale key/Gastown/Stanely park, went to the water slides, and then celebrated Beth's (oldest sister) 30th birthday.


Beth's husband had planned an amazing Mexican themed surprise party for her, including an amazing table of mexican delights, ongoing margaritas, two pinatas, and live salsa dancing lessons! Of course to keep it a surprise, my mom, sister and I HAD to take her to get all our nails done, have a sushi picnic at white rock, and shopping, before blindfolding her to her 'next event'. I'm amazed that she had no idea where she was when we walked her into her own backyard. Either that, or she's a really good lier.. but I think she really was surprised. Kudos to Devin, as actually surprising someone for a party is really difficult to do.

Dad's birthday is the day after Beth's, so sunday we gathered at the 'rents house and ate left over mexican food and pie. we were gonna go to the beach but we were so tired from the week of 'camp'.

this last week I started my job. I feel so blessed to have a job for the short time that we are home. When I was in Japan I was praying for a job. I had just read captivating by John and Staci Eldridge (sp?) and they talked about how God wanted to 'romance' us and give us good gifts, just because he can.. not because we 'deserve' it. Anyways, I was praying to deserve it.. and then realized what I was doing.. I instead prayed for his gift of a job. Then, checked my email, and Ben's mom was online, saying her supervisor had asked her if I wanted to work at their X-ray clinic while I was home. Wow. she didn't ask, her supervisor asked her. Pretty cool, eh? So, I'm working in the darkroom, shoving filmes through the developer. all my knowledge of dark room developing is replaced by a maching, but that's ok. i can't imagine actually having to develope hundreds of films a day by hand! I also get to call patients from the waiting room to the change room and tell them to take off their clothes, then see them walk around all uncomfortable in the skimpy gowns we give them. yup, love it.

We've also loved going to the beach....eeeeeee... love the weather here!
my pictures arn't uploading for some reason.. so I hope to have some soon.

Good things come in threes

We've made it three years together. I should say something like "my, time has flown" but honestly, it feels like three years. We've done a lot in that time. We've each finished a 'segment' of school, and gone to Japan for a year. I think this next year will be a lot of fun, no school (maybe Ben in January, but not much) and a trip to Botswana and Angola. Christmas at home, camping trips, visits across Canada for Med Schools interviews (cross the fingers and knock on wood). It should be good. Next year by this time we should know where we will spend the next 4-7 years. I'm excited.

For our anniversary Ben has been planning a trip for us since, like, March. He's been giving me a hint every 10th of the month, and I wasn't dissapointed. the hints:
- we might see something big
- it has something to do with water
- there is a long walk
- it is not east or south of Langley

Can you guess? I was guessing whales and boats and hot springs-cause I know Ben likes that sort of thing and gets excited about them. And, yup, I was right. He did a good job of not letting me know if I guess it or not.

We went to Tofino on Ben's dad's Honda Shadow (which has a very small back seat.. ouch!!). Then, we were going to take a whale watching tour, but we were too late, so we took a float plane to Hot Springs cove. That's all knew at that point, so when we arrived at the dock, I was surprised that there was no hotel or anything on the beach like I expected. Ben pointed to a boat off the shore and said, "that's where we're going"..the InnChanter. Except, the boat was a good 200m away from the dock. We asked the pilot how to get there, and he said to call, or swim if we had our water wings. We walked from the dock to the land, sure that we would find a phone or something, but nope. Finally, the couple who were rowing a boat from the Innchanter got to the dock, and we used their boat to row back to the Innchanter. The Innchanter holds about 10 guests, and serves an amazing dinner and breakfast. I highly recommend it.


The hot springs are a 25 minute walk through old growth forest on a boardwalk over land. The spring itself starts as a waterfall, then flowes into different pools before meeting the ocean. So great. We went at night, as there were fewer people, and soaked for hours (and got many a mosquito bite).

these crazy Canadians

Well, we've been back for a week and have gone through jet lag and culture shock. We've had so much bbq in the last week, it's been great! It's been really good to be here, to see our family and some of our friends so far. As it was a long weekend though, all our good intentions of getting a bunch of stuff done in preparation for Angola was stilted as nothing official was open.

Ben's been working with his dad land surveying, and I've been trying to stay awake in the day. Jet lag and any kind of big change always hits me harder than Ben.

Our biggest reverse culture shock moment was going to a bar for karaoke with our friends. In Japan, karaoke is almost always in a booth, just with the friends you went to, and we had gotten to know the karaoke books pretty well, so that we knew what we could sing. Here, the books were way less organized, and didn't have the songs we were used to singing. Japan actually keeps up really well with their English collections of songs. In the end we each got in one song, but were left a little dissapointed cause we like to sing lots when we go. that, and the rude lady at walmart who was at the cash register. Japan has excellent customer service, and we were a little shocked at this one lady. Most stores in Japan are way over staffed, so it's strange here when going to buy fabric to wait and search for someone to help you.. ah, culture shock, there's nothing quite like taking a second look at your home culture.

Oh Canada!

Well, we did it. The 9.5 hour flight didn't kill us, but made us tired. We didn't sleep at all on the plane, and then we had a full day of family and wonderful foood, like Tim Hortons, and then farmersausage and perogies for dinner It's good to have the trip over, and to see our family.. but it does feel strange to be here. I guess my mind doesn't want to accept the fact that our time in Japan is over. And it seems as if I will have a lot of time to think about it, as it is 4am, and I am wide awake after only 5 hours of sleep. Our alarm clock was still on Japan time and so when I woke up and saw that it was 7 o'clock, I thought, oh good, it's morning. Well, technically morning, but it still won't be light for a while. I don't think I'll be up for the Sympony of Fire tonight like I was hoping.

Anywhoo.. for those of you around, we're back, let's go camping!
If you want to reach us, we're at Ben's parent's house.