Back in balance in Vancouver!

Nice breakfast chat about Spain, surfing and freedom

When I was in the bus back to Vancouver I remembered that an old friend and former colleague of mine from Germany wanted to visit it. I just wrote him on WhatsApp if he was still there.

He was! 

The next day would be actually his last day before he would travel to Vancouver Island and Seattle. So everything was great and suited perfect! We arranged to catch up on the next day.

When I met him on the next day at his hotel in downtown I was so excited and jumped to him and hugged him. Unfortunately he was injured at his knee from a hiking tour. 

We went to a pub close by and talked a lot and had some beer and food together.

He told me about his journey through Canada with his friends (they did some thing different at this evening). We talked also about life and his other journeys to South America and Iceland. 

He said more than once:"It is not that great what you did but..." I stopped him and said:"Don't say that! I had specific aims why I did that big step. What you are doing is great and is the right fit for you. I needed to go and find myself."

Well, I did a big step but it was necessary for me. I needed to get out the structure and face the fears I had. 

It was the right fit for me but that doesn't mean that everyone has to do the same. I needed to change something and for me was the best option to give my former life up because I was not me and I wanted to find out who I really am...

Funny was that I didn't know his friends but they knew me already through my interview I gave to Stadtgeflüster Münster. 

They worked for one of my former clients in Germany and my interview was kind of popular there. So nice! I was really touched to hear that. I am far away and I don't really know about the reactions about it.

They were very interested and asked me something like:"In your interview you said that... could you explain? What exactly...?" :-)

It was very nice that my story set some impulses on them and I loved to answer the questions they had. That is exactly what I want to do. Set impulses on people with my stories.

After a while it was quite late and my friends had to wake up very early in the mornings. So my friend brought me down to the bus stop. 

Due to it was quite chilly he gave me one of his shirts. Such a gentleman!

On the whole I had a great evening and I was very happy to see my friend again. I am very curious where we will meet again. The world is a village and this meet up showed me that I did alright to come back to Vancouver.

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I arrived on a Friday evening in Vancouver and my agency was closed on the weekend. So I could enjoy Vancouver on the weekend and consider what I could do until my Yoga teacher training will start.

Sunset at the Jericho Beach.

One of my roommates was a nice German girl. She was quite young but like I mentioned earlier: wisdom doesn't care about age. She was very mature for her age.

I took her one day with me to the Wreck Beach. That was the Hippie beach there where I have been during my last stay.

On Monday I went very early to my agency SWAP in downtown. At noon should also be my interview for a job where I applied for when I was in Vernon.

But to work just for a month at a place would be difficult. Either I had to say that or to lie and quit it after a month. Sounded not really like good options.

I also considered doing Wwoofing in Nelson until my Yoga teacher training would start. That is similar to what I did since January. But I wanted to know if my agency has another solution.

My nice consultant at SWAP told me exactly the same with either Wwoofing or temporary work was also an option. But actually I wanted to go to Nelson and Wwoofing is a great opportunity to learn new skills, get to know to people and the village.

So I used one computers at my agency, open my account on the wwoofing site and wrote to some places in Nelson if I could come next Monday and stay until my yoga teacher training would start.

10 minutes later I got the first response from someone and 10 minutes further I phoned them. My consultant at SWAP was baffled that it worked out that fast. Well, I was just happy.

On the next day I had the confirmation for a Wwoofing place in Nelson. It was not the lady on the phone because she forgot that they had a family event but another nice lady.

Therefore I booked a bus ticket and a hostel in Nelson, so that I could discover the village the weekend before I would go to my Wwoofing place.

Well, everything showed me that it was right to go to Nelson and I was happy that I made the decision.

In addition I went to the interview in Vancouver but I couldn't tell them the truth that I changed my mind a few minutes ago and also that I looked for something for just one month... I know it was very coward. So I screwed it up with purpose. They never phoned me back.

By the way: When I was at one of the computers at my agency I could follow a conversation between a young girl from Germany and a German guy about making money in Canada.

She told him that she needed to make lots of money and that some people said they would try it as actor or nude model and that she was considering to do that as well... OK actor is kind of harmless but the other thing went a step too far in my opinion and could easily go in the wrong direction...

Well, that quite shocked me that those talks with the wrong people about "making lots of money" could turn into this direction just to make lots of money. I experienced if I am just focused on making money, then I don't see the opportunities around me and also this chasing makes me not happy.

I hope that the young girl will be grant and let her strange friends do their thing. I had to think back about the young drug addicted dealer who I met in Kelowna and his story... How easily it can happen to take the wrong path...

Short-term marriage

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I packed all my stuff together, was ready to leave the hostel and to take the bus to my Mexican friend's house. 
I left my hostel at the same time like my short-term husband when suddenly an elder guy appeared in there.

He was around my size, wore a sun hat and had big purple earphones around his neck and went a bit bend. He had also some scratches on his forehead. 

My short-term husband cheeky like he was just said to him:"Hey your scratches are from 6 whiskeys downtown, aren't they?" Then he asked:"Hey man? Do you have a car?" "Yes I have one." "Great! Can you give me a lift man? And her as well (he pointed to me)? I have this stuff here and my bike..." "Oh no, I have just a small car." 

Then the guy saw me and asked me where I needed to go:"Well, I just need a ride to the bus stop but I can also walk it. I wanna go to a friends house downtown." 

So he took my luggage, put it in his car and my short-term husband had to call a taxi :-). 

The guy introduced himself as Jason and he offered me to bring me to my friends house. That was very kind! In the meantime I got a message from my friend that he needed an hour longer due to the traffic.

I said to Jason that he just could drop me out somewhere downtown and I would take a bus to my friend. But Jason was such a gentleman he asked me if I would know Granville Island. I didn't. 

So we drove to Granville Island. At that time there was the so-called Fringe Festival with lots of theater acts etc. Some guys came over to Jason and said that they played with him in a drama. 

So it turned out that Jason was an actor and one of his favorite roles was Bertold Brecht. 

We walked around and found a place where he invited me for a pie and coffee. He told me a lot about some actors he lived with in San Francisco in the 60ies. He also met Jim Morrison at that time. Very interesting. 

He had a great memory as well and knew lots of names and connections. By the way he said I would have resemblance withEmily Lloyd when she was young. He knew her from years ago.

After the pie and coffee he drove me to my friends house. Well, it was quite a journey because we had some misunderstandings but in the end we found it.

It was very interesting for me to chat with him and he was a real gentleman. 

So funny that I got to know to him through a very cheeky request :-).

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Jason dropped me off in front of my friend's house. I met my friend in Whistler in the lodge where I worked for. He was quite cool and from Mexico. He said to me in Whistler that I could stay at his place if I would be in Vancouver.

So I thought it would be nice to come to his place on my last evening. 

It turned out that his apartment was just a 20 minutes' walk away from the bus station. How great! The hostel was pretty far away. My bus would leave very early in the mornings at 6.30 am. So again everything was just great!

My friend made nice tacos and I brought white wine with me. It was very interesting to talk to him and I found his story very impressive. Therefore that he is just 25 years old he accomplished a lot. Well, he worked hard for it and went through a lot of shit.

In Vancouver he built up his own business with some employees. It is a cleaning company. 

I told him that he should write his story down one day. He just smiled and said that he has too much to do for it.

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On the next morning my friend was so kind and offered me to drop me off the bus station. It was very early in the mornings at 5.30am.

At the bus station I went to the check in gate. Sadly at the Vanvoucer Greyhound station the employees seem often very stressed out and react very unfriendly. Glad that I already knew the procedure. 

Suddenly a young guy came over and asked very nervous the young woman behind the desk how it worked because his bus will go in 10 min. She said very upset:"I am serving someone!" 

I just said to him:"It is very easy! You just put your luggage on the scale, show your reservation number, get your label and everything is fine!" The guy smiled at me and was pleased. The young girl gave me a confused smile. And the guy got his bus as well :-).

If I had reacted like her, then probably the young guy would be also upset and I would feel bad as well because I would be upset about this guy etc. A kind of butterfly effect or rather the connection of karma(=action). Everything is connected like this very nice video shows.

Going to Nelson