Tomorrow May Rain So.......

A picture paints a thousand words

So after much finger gnashing and wailing of teeth we’ve decided not to apply for an extension to our Canadian work visa and to leave Vancouver before our current visa expires at the end of December. We've booked our flight to Buenos Aires, leaving on December 27th, where we plan to base ourselves for a few months while we explore the plastic surgery and steak delights of Argentina before we move on to Santiago de Chile. We took delivery of our Travel Guide Books this week and we’ve been reading all about the lovely and inescapable steak in the land of tango and futbol.

It’s definitely been one of the toughest decisions we’ve had to make as a couple and it weighed heavy on both of our minds for a while before we came to our decision. It’s a near impossible choice between beauty and freedom. The beautiful and stunning natural environment of Vancouver BC with all its cornucopia of natural delights and visual side shows versus the freedom to leave it all behind and seek something even more beautiful. Or at least more exciting. That probably over simplifies things but I think it captures the core of our dilemma. We’ve both dreamed about the kid laden Pathfinder with the kayak tied on top and the caravan tugging along behind making road trips to undiscovered parts of BC and beyond. Dashing those dreams with the single act of purchasing a plane ticket is tough. The flipside is that the more we move through and settle into our relationship, the idea of a five year honeymoon at this stage of our lives seems overly optimistic - though still not impossible. If it is the case that we only have a finite (more finite than we thought) time on the road then we really don’t want to live it out in one place – a place we’ve become overly familiar with and used to in many respects.

Apartment on Kingsway

Every one of the people we came over to are gone and Canadian friends are hard to make. Financially it’s slightly mad to bail before the end of December. But both of us are gagging not to prolong either the waiting or our half status here. The thinking is, if we’re going to leave within 6 months anyway, then we should leave before the end of the year. We’d basically have been staying around the extra 6 months purely to save, albeit in a less frantic way than we’re doing now but it still would just have been prolonging the inevitable. I was a semi participant in a 3 way Canadian conversation on the topic of “dancing” in work this morning. Very hilarious. The word “groove” was used several times and not a tongue in cheek in sight . The expression “dancing to vocals” was also used at which point I had to leave. In the name of Jesus heh? The feeling of relief leaving Canadians to their consistently enthusiastically inane conversations is pretty good I have to say. Who will laugh at them when we’re gone? Having said all that we’ll be sad to see the back of what we know but at the same time glad to see the beginning of what we don’t.

Timbits in Surrey - Canadian Thanksgiving

Then there was the question of where to spend Christmas. We very briefly entertained the notion of paying a flying visit home but the price of the flights and the lack of availability of those very pricey flights soon put a halt to our galavanting. Then we though about Montreal but it's not exactly on the way to South America. So it’ll be Christmas in Vancouver with Tofu Turkey. I’m looking forward to it though – kind of completing the cycle. We arrived at the tail end of the Christmas celebrations here last year. I’m planning on leaving work mid December time and enjoying the run up. Its crazy though – I’ve just secured a Canadian credit card, my Trinity documents have come through which means I could have applied for the visa extension straight away and then M’s teaching documents come through this week aswell. All in the week we made the decision over Burger King chips and ketchup in Metrotown that we were going on a lockdown and leaving TimBitsville in December.

Th-th-th-Scorchio!

But the mostly positive thing is we’ll be following the sun, thus avoiding the biblical rains of the Vancouver winter. We’ve always wanted to follow the sun. Buenos Aires is meant to be hot hot hot in January. The plan is to rent a cheap apartment and go on random camping expeditions discovering Argentina by tent. The economy is apparently still pretty deflated at the moment so the cost of living is a fraction of what it is in Vancouver. The flipside is that the chances of getting work generally, nevermind without the language, are pretty abysmal. So we’re saving hard and will be on a pretty tight budget. All in the name of adventure. At least we might have something to write about in the blog.


Went to see The National in Richards last week. A truly amazing gig. We’ve been listening to their last album pretty much constantly since just before we left home so it was great to get to see them play the entire album live. Stunningly good. You can see the poster for the gig in the Gig Posters section. Doesn’t do the gig justice at all :)

Other than that we’re prepariing for the arrival of the Ks – well most of them in anyways – at the end of October. We’re both really looking forward to the company and the being allowed to drink mochas again. I’m struggling to get all the days off work but I should have most of the week off. Ks if you’re reading this leave some comments about what you’d like to do other than shop. There’s an Islands gig in UBC….. but Me says I’m not allowed drag you to a band you wont have heard before.

Corner of Powell and Gore

Thanks to Karen and Frankie for their parting gift of the voucher for Hapa Izakaya aswell. We spent Saturday night ensconced in the belly of this buzzing Japanese Tapas restaurant on Robson street trying to make our way through $100 of food when most of the dishes are $8 or less. We hit a wall at the tofu ice cream and started drinking the delicious and dangerous chocoloate martinis purely to make up the rest of the bill. The food was absolutely delicious and we ended up getting full and drunk and bizarrely, reminiscing about the shared experience of going to school in Newbridge. Hilarious the memories that come back when you're drunk. Towards the end of the evening we watched a chef attack a side of meat with a bunsen burner. So thanks again Karen & Frankie for a great night on youse - we were saving it up for a special occasion. Little did we know it would be to celebrate our decision to leave. We look forward to seeing all our visitors again in Argentina.