immersion

i'm leaving tomorrow, in the wee hours of the morning, for nova scotia. apparently i won't be able to speak a word of english for the five weeks i'm there - minus the time i sneak away to halifax to adventure with jenna and "run" a half marathon. i'm in it for the t-shirt. i have no idea what to expect. i'm sure there are people out there who could enlighten me but i kinda like it this way. my basement floor is totally covered with the "bare essentials". i always liked the idea of being a light packer but i've never been able to master it. and i always envy the people who can travel with what looks like a really small bag but seem to have an endless supply of outfits. i'm just doomed to be an overpacker. or, occasionally, an extreme underpacker - something that has led to disappointments in the past. long story short, i am turning this packing into a much bigger deal than it probably needs to be BUT i am going for five weeks which is quite a while. or it at least seems to be when i'm on this end of it.

i've spent the last week poolside and my whole body has a case of prickly heat. i hate the prickly heat. even the pool can't cure it. but it was a cooker here today. i do love that about kelowna. a lot. i have also begun to use it as an excuse to not go for runs! that is so bad. but it is so hot i can't even handle it. i went for a run the other day and came back all red faced and wrongly assumed that it was just from exertion (i get red when i exercise like no one you've ever seen) but nope, it was a sunburn. but i got a nike plus thing. one of those little things that goes in your shoe and records all sorts of info about your runs. and i really like it. it's neat to see how it's going. i haven't logged too many miles on it yet (like i said, poolside) but i'm excited to put it through the paces in nova scotia. and i am excited for the ocean!

oh god am i excited for the ocean!

before moving to kelowna i spent 6 years living on island, many of those years living a few short blocks from the water, and i'm really missing it. i didn't realize it until i was in vancouver and the sight of the sea just got me. it has a power. i don't know what it is, but there is something about it. i've seen the atlantic before, but it was in florida and something about that just doesn't count for me. i want to see the north atlantic. the titanic atlantic. i cannot wait.

i'll keep you posted on my adventures.
maybe in french, maybe not.

tmax

i'm facing this dilemma between starting a new blog as i start a new chapter of my life or keeping this blog as a way to document all the growth that has occurred since i set out at 18. it is a tough call. i think i'll mix it up. i feel that this blog, as great as it has been in the past, has come to limit me. it's purely psychological, of course, but the idea of a refresh is appealing. the blog posts here won't disappear, i have them all and looking back at them is continually enlightening. i'll let you know if there is ever a new link to add to your favorites. it will probably still be called taryntothemax, i don't think i can part with that.

in other news, i went for a run today (less than 3 weeks until i am scheduled to run a half marathon in halifax, i'd really hate to go 0 for 2). it felt really good, despite a weird attack of asthma breathing. my knee feels good, i just need to log some miles and get my head in the game. seriously, my head is not in the game at all and i am realizing that this is 90% to blame for my running failure (the other 10% i am attributing to my knee). that's exciting. i leave for nova scotia in less that two weeks. for five whole glorious weeks. i can't wait. there was a time in my life when five weeks would have felt like an ETERNITY but now it just feels like a weekend. it would probably feel more substantial except i am going to china for TWO WHOLE YEARS. now that is an ETERNITY. and i can't wait!

b.ed.

as i drove out of the parking lot of the school on friday i had this intense feeling of disbelief and exhilaration. it just seems so unreal that everything i've worked towards for the last 6 years was over, and it ended in the exact same way that every other school day has ended since january. i cleaned up my desk, packed up my bag, hopped in my car, and cruised up the hill home. but that was it. it was done. i still can't quite believe it. i feel like there will never be the words i need to fully express this feeling. it's part relief, part disbelief, part mind-boggle, part sadness, part jubilation, part this and part that. it's done. i just can't believe that it's done. i'm done.

hero's journey update!

it's funny the mixed reviews i get when people find out that i am going to china.

reaction #1: that is so AWESOME!
(approximately 85% of all reactions)

reaction #2: that's great but, umm, have you been to china before?
(approximately 10% of all reactions)

reaction #3: what are you thinking?
(approximately 5% of all reactions)

so, mostly positive. somewhere in reaction type three is the reaction i got from my dad. he tried to be positive but his exact words were "if there is ever a pandemic, china is the worst place you could positively be." i love that guy.

but i am going. everyday it sinks in a little bit more as being real but i'm still waiting for the full impact of this decision. two years in china. two years!! this is my step one for me becoming an international citizen. i think it'll start really sinking in when i get all the info about my school, my subject, my flight information. it's less than four months away! that is totally bonkers. that is no time. a few weeks in kelowna, a few weeks in nova scotia, a few days in saskatoon, a visit with my baba, and i'm gone.

i am actually so excited i can't even stand it!

remember how i wrote a while ago about the hero's journey? i got stuck around step 5, crossing the threshold. but i think here it is. i'm leaving my ordinary world and entering a new one! and i shall return one day (in 2+ years!) with the elixir. that's the read i'm getting on it right now. i'll keep you posted.

love, once again,
your hero

meet me in chongqing

i got the contract!
of the people i know who interviewed four out of six got contracts. i'm not exactly how they made the choices they did (meaning: certain picks were not ones i would have made) but overall, i'm glad to be going with people i know.

so yes,
i signed it. i really signed it. today! and i faxed it in! and all my applications are in the mail! and things are happening for me!

i'm off to chongqing. supposedly the biggest city in china, maybe the biggest city in the world.

and you know what that means.
travel blog!!