It's Not Unusual

I made it to Vancouver!!! 36 hours is a long time to spend on a train, but it was cool going through the mountains and riding along the Colombia River.  Plus I got to walk around a lot and meet a heap of interesting people, it was fun.  When I arrived I learned that the train had lost my bike.  Really?  A non-stop train?  Can't I travel somewhere without something going terribly wrong?  It's interesting how much I love travelling even though something like this always happens.

So my friend Kaylen, and her boyfriend Keelen, (cute, right?) picked me up from the depot, dropped my stuff off at the house I'm living in and then we hung out around the town a bit.  It was really great, they make me happy.  Once they dropped me off at the house, I unpacked everything and got settled in and then had a few breakdowns.  One because of the bike, another because I budgeted, another because I'd eaten one meal in the past 2-3 days and couldn't go anywhere to get food, another because my shower stuff was in the box with my bike so I was unable to shower after that 36 hour train ride, and to top it off I was tired after spending two nights sleeping in my seat on the train.  Fortunately, my mom talked me into bringing my guitar to Vancouver so I had some worship time and then I felt better.

It's funny how a few wrong things can make you feel like the entire world is crashing in on you.  My mind was telling me that I was screwed, but my heart knew that I was here for a reason and that God wasn't going to leave me hanging.  And that was day 1.


Today I called around to a bunch of train stations, none of which could locate my bike, and then a call came from the Vancouver depot saying that there was a bike coming on the train and that, hopefully, it was mine.  And sure enough, it was!  I don't have the slightest clue where the bike went - the paper I got said something about Seattle and Portland and Minneapolis.  I don't know, but it doesn't matter anymore.  So I pieced my bike back together (because I had to disassemble it for baggage check), SHOWERED! and then dressed up and went out to find a job.  I applied to a lot of places, and an awesome coffee shop even said they were looking to hire someone!  That would be so great.  I also stopped in at a church nearby and made friends with the children's pastor, she's going to introduce me to some people my age on Sunday.  Yay new friends!  Ben is also coming down to see me this weekend, and that's going to be a lot of fun!  So overall, day 2 was a severe improvement on day 1.  I feel at home here, I like it.