New Home

For whom do I buy things, clean things, rearrange things, make decisions?

Ever since I detached from the former style of living and moved, the answer has been more than clear and very pure: For myself. I am the one who benefits.

The new flat is for me, affecting my own life first and is a vast canvas for my personal world building.

For a long time my room has been some kind of central chamber my life would spin around.
Now, I have expanded those chambers not only in number, but also in function: My very own bathroom, kitchen, living room, bedroom and inbetween room (I call that one studio, fashionably).

I had some time to think about the new way of living and was sure from the beginning: These rooms will represent myself. So I painted a wall red. Another one dark green, for contrast. Two natures and such.
The kitchen was red in the first place, the disco ball went into the bathroom and I have a fresh red toolbox for cutlery storage. There is music already and food and my carefully picked dishes, which have excellent haptic qualities. A Gluggle Jug makes pouring water a joy and coffee aplenty from my red coffee maker keeps all senses sharp.

Further plans I do have many, for when I arrive at the later stages of home decoration, but they shall altogether make the inside of those walls but one thing: Mine.

So that every guest and after all I myself can see who lives in there…

Canada

My Journey On led me to the next stop. Only one night I planned on spending there, which is a short stay, I know.
For the next day I would already go back towards the Fraser Valley to meet my friends after 8 years. So this one day had to suffice.

The reason why I chose a random spot for a single night a few hours into the country(side) was of rather personal nature and nurture: It is called Oliver, naturally.

My expectations of some rougher landscape and a little quiet me time after yet another long road trip were quickly surpassed by the absolutely positively gorgeous views and vibes up on the hill with the cabin and the lovely company of a truly Canadian couple staying next door, plus the overly attached dog I named Caretaker for obvious reasons.

As it was the basic gist of this destination, I indulged in taking pictures of all the depictions of my name, collected some broad smiles when I told people my name, ate pizza with literally Everything on it. I had the chance to share my personal journey of late and to connect with other people, which does make the own life all the more tangible.

This little part of the trip was just for me, and I think that was okay:

New Home

There is no reason not to do all the things at hand. You do have a plan, a vision, a place to claim.

Within my flat, many things needed to get done from the beginning. Usually I am not an enthusiast for renovations, cleaning and tidying, but this was all different: I knew exactly why I was doing it!

And there was no stopping as long as the day would kindly last. Under purpose you move fast and with ease.
The latter only until your strength fades. And that happens more slowly when something makes you happy, but still exhausts you on a long run.

I knew all the things I wanted to get done, up to moving in and after that to make my new home nice and mine.
Deep cleaning window frame after window frame, removing spot after spot, installing appliance after appliance, unpacking box after box, choosing and buying item after item, constantly planning step after step.

But there was one thing I needed to be reminded of by the one suffering the most under it: My body was running low on energy.
Not that all successes weren’t satisfying, but at several points I needed to regain some of that through most basic me time.

Sometimes I tend to forget that the one who does the things I do, might deserve some rest, too.

Canada

I got my means of transportation from turo.com: It is just like Airbnb, but for cars.
The car proved to be perfect for the whole time: Comfortable, reliable and very much fuel-efficient!

So I set out to explore Vancouver Island. I knew there would be rain forests, coastline, many animals and some remote, beautiful and stunning places. I had a plan: To see it all.

My base of operations was near Victoria, so I made good use of the vehicle, driving a lot around the whole island, after having some walks in the area as well.

Only later I was told that the lengths I travelled bordered on the extreme, having seen Sooke, Lake Cowichan, Tofino and Port Hardy in six days, among other places…

But there was no reason not to go everywhere, given the purpose of my visit and the nature of my travel. I just wanted to see it all, as I was there all for it.
Not at first, but soon I noticed that my energy reserve did not quite match up with the plan I thought up. My body just wasn’t having constant travel and euphoria and the masses of things you deem joyful and desirable.

I learned that some blatant rest and rather seflish me time is just as important than hitting the road hard and long. After all it is my very own journey and joy should be enjoyed.

And those lessons make me look back in ever so much gratefulness for the time spent on the road and also by myself:

I will tell 2 stories that don’t belong together, but they do.

One is about a journey to another continent, one is the story about me moving into my own place.
One will have beautiful pictures, the other will be of more personal, yet subtantial and practical nature.
One has an end, the other goes on.

Both, though, are unique and filled with wonder and with awe.
Both began with thoughts, wishes and heaps of courage.
Both are so close to each other that I would like to tell them as close as this.

New Home

Finding this flat was a chance encounter. What I liked most out of the many impressions were the vibes and the air the place had. It went all so well, so that I secured the lease before heading out to Canada and I could begin occupying the place right after my return.

Thus, after I returned to Germany, for the first time I didn’t really arrive back in my old room, but stayed on the journey, not settling in to the old life after the trip as always.

Even after unpacking the suitcase I would already think about packing again. I went and got the keys to my new doors right away and knew what needed to be done: Preparing the rooms for painting, painting, cleaning the rooms from any excess paint, removing leftover paint from previous paintjobs, cleaning every corner in an initial manner and after the work would have been done, I could move in with my stuff.

White paint I received as leftover gifts, which was enough to paint 6 walls and two ceilings. Buying colorful paint for the other two walls was an emotional process and those emotions paid off very much while painting already!

Half of a paintjob is the preparation itself, so I spent two days on it all: One day essentially preparing and the other painting. Covered in a mixture of sweat and paint, I was done with the first acts of conquering my new world!

Cleaning is just as conquerous, which took many afternoons after work and ever so much sweat in the hot days of June, but here I always knew why I did it all and whom for. Those were hard days, but ever so rewarding with each other step taken!

Canada

The trip started with a successful nightdrive to the airport, only to discover that my flight had been delayed several hours. But I was lucky enough to go through a waiting list for the other overbooked flight and got in!

The reason to be happy about that not only is the blessing of having gotten in, but the nonstop nature of the offered flight. I certainly would have missed the connecting flight in Toronto as well, but now I could fly directly into Vancouver and arrived even earlier than expected.
If that is not a bumpy, but phenomenal start, I don’t know what is.

After being impressed by first impressions at the Vancouver Airport, I got into the city hassle free and had a pleasant check-in at the Airbnb, which was located in a convenient spot and was a safe haven for the first days.

Before I would go to Vancouver Island, I had some days of settling in here in Downtown Vancouver. I got to check off some essentials (getting a SIM card, realising that I had packed too many warm clothes) and explore and see what Vancouver is all about.

It is a bustling city, but with many faces. Of which some belong to humans in a broken state, which was hard to witness and to put into perspective.

As of the the rumors of Vancouver being rainy: I haven’t seen any of that, actually on the whole trip I got more sun than I would ever have thought of, and that was only one of many special aspects of the time there.

In all, I had some nice interactions and tastes and impressions, rented a bike for more swift and flexible transportation for a day, tested the limits of my feet once more and captured many of the sights in Vancouver: