February through my phone

I promise I'll have a more substantial post up soon. Hunter decided he wanted to get more involved in the blog (yay) and so he'll edit the photos he and i have taken before i post them here. However, his schedule is crazy right now because of his job and that means no photo editing has happened yet. Soon though, i'll tell you all about what i've been making/doing with the many gifts i've received, I'll tell you all about our weekend in America where i celebrated my 21st (a little too much celebrating), what i'm doing academically this month, Hunter's new job, and other tidbits about our lives.

 

 

Pictured
1.  Lunch at Whole Foods before heading back to Squamish while we were moving all our stuff at the beginning of February- crazy more than a month has gone by of us living in our little Vancouver place!
2. The remnants of flour-less brownies. Make 'em with black beans and no one will know!
3. Planning dinners for the week.
4 & 5. Hunter and i at Bestie for my birthday dinner.
6. The Tuna Tataki lunch set at Basho cafe. The most adorable little family run cafe and it is so close to our house! We've already been there a few times and they just opened mid-February.


Not pictured
1. The bounty of gifts I received for my 21st.
2. Hunter getting a job!
3. Our trip to Bellingham.
4. Getting an internship!
5. Giving our landlords a cheque for our second month. Our lease here is month-to-month so every month they still want us to live here and we still want to live here is exciting.
6. Snow in Vancouver! The first day of our three day snow "storm." I miss real winter snow that is dry and sticks to the ground for months and makes the cold temperatures warranted. Also, snow makes winter brighter which makes me happier. Without snow winter is grey and flat.

January through my phone

Pictured
1. Getting groceries from the local "country market" in Squamish, On the Farm.

2. Double grilled cheese date night at Lucy's Diner. We went for the mini burgers with goat cheese, but they were out of mini buns so we got grilled cheese, it was ok. This grilled cheese foodtruck is so much better.

3. Having a delicious lunch of sausage (!) at Bestie with my siiister. Super adorable decor and such tasty German-inspired food. We didn't realize until afterwards when we checked out their website that we were served by the two owners! When we went to pay we pulled out our debit cards from our small town credit union and our server asked us if we were from Nelson! We were so surprised, turns out he is from Castlegar and recognized our cards. We later found out it was Dane, one of the owners. I'm definitely going back and chatting them both up.

4. I was talked into the icrecream sandwich at Bestie. Creamy vanilla icecream between two house-made ginger cookies. I was in heaven.

5. Hilarious sign in a bathroom. Suffice it to say, Beyonce's latest album has made me into a full blown fan.

6. Date night at Stepho's. Huge portions of yummy Greek food for a super reasonable price point, the cheapest drinks in Canada (also maybe the worst. I don't recommend the cocktails), and a bustling vibe on Davie St.

7. So excited to open this care package from Georgia on my last day of class.


Not pictured
1. New Years Eve in Nelson. We all went out to dinner and then Hunter and I fell asleep/succumbed to our food comas before we could head out and party with our friends. So embarrassing.

2. What felt like never ending house hunting, and then finally finding our little gem of an apartment.

3. My little brother turning 14. Fourteen! Having a life crisis because i can clearly remember me at fourteen and that was 7 years ago.

4. Packing up all my things to move to Vancouver on February 1st.

I hope you enjoyed my horrible cellphone pictures!

Academic leave

I thought i'd make a little post about what I'm getting up to this February, academically speaking. For the block of February (if you need it, here's a refresher on what the block plan is) i am taking a class through the Academy of Classical Oriental Sciences (ACOS), which means I have to take an Academic Leave from Quest.

There was a lot of stress and drama (Quest doesn't define the rules very well, and that gets confusing for students and faculty) but I finally got my leave approved, my tuition and housing fees credited back to my account, and my class through ACOS approved as a transfer credit. Getting this class approved for a transfer credit is an accomplishment, Quest is very strict about what can be transferred towards your degree.

Now the class i'm taking, it's titled Introduction to Chinese Medicinal Substances.
The learning objectives are as follows:

• Origins of Chinese herbology,
• General botany applied to herbs,
• Habitat, collection, cultivation techniques,
• Processing of herbs,
• Herbal properties: four qi, five tastes, channel tropism, etc.
• Methods of consumption,
• Dosage and toxicity,
• Combining of herbs.

The course is broken down into 15 lessons, with reading, assignments, and a quiz that accompanies each lesson. These lessons are supposed to be done each week, starting in January and ending in April. There are no fixed dates except the end date in April. Each assignment and quiz is graded. 

My plan, or more accurately said, my Quest Mentor Ryan's plan is for me to complete the 15 lessons within one month. I am a little apprehensive; I hoped to get a job, move in with as little hurry and stress as possible, and try and make some new friends/explore the city of Vancouver. But it seems i will only be exploring the local coffee shops with free wifi. Ah well, i am sure the fast pace and rigor of Quest's block system has prepared me for this.

 The herb kit for my class, how cool is this?!

The little mystery plant i had to grow (i've got to make some observations of it in "week 9")

I am excited about the class- i'll keep you posted on progress and maybe snippets of what i'm learning if you are interested!